Earth Day was held this week, which is an appropriate time to make an assessment.

Generally, the environment in Jacksonville is pleasant.

It's rare to have an air pollution alert. The St. Johns River looks marvelous.

Yet, tributaries are unfit for swimming and nutrients threaten the river's health.

On a national level, there are the serious threats of global warming that both government and business are beginning to address.

Amy Kaleita, a policy fellow in Environmental Studies at the Pacific Research Institute, offers the following news in a press release:

Numerous indicators reveal that in many ways our environment is actually improving.

"For the first time in nearly 100 years, species such as whitefish have been observed returning to the Detroit River.

"The Aral Sea, a freshwater body straddling Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, is also showing strong recovery. In Los Angeles, air quality regulators reported a significant decline in health risk from air pollution.

"The bald eagle was taken off the endangered species list last summer. The United Nations notes that in many parts of the world, the rate of deforestation is in decline, and has been reversed in Asia. Net deforestation in Brazil has fallen by two-thirds over the last four years.

"Total wetland acres in the United States are on the rise. Perhaps most surprising, given the gloom and doom most often relayed in the public sphere, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions actually fell by 1.5 percent in 2006."

All in all, let's mobilize for the challenges and credit the progress that has been made.