Setting the stage for the first earth day
The
height of counterculture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi
Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over
Troubled Water.” War raged in Vietnam and students nationwide overwhelmingly
opposed it.
At
the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans.
Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or
bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity.
“Environment” was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the
evening news.
Although
mainstream America largely remained oblivious to environmental concerns, the
stage had been set for change by the publication of Rachel Carson’s New York
Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962. The book represented a watershed
moment, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries, and beginning to
raise public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and
links between pollution and public health.
Earth
Day 1970 gave voice to that emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of
the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns on the front
page.
The Idea for the first Earth Day
The
idea for a national day to focus on the environment came to Earth Day founder
Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the
ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by
the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy
with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would
force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator
Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the
national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican
Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes from Harvard
as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events
across the land. April 22, falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, was
selected as the date.
On
April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and
auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive
coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized
protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been
fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage,
toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction
of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
Earth
Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from
Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons
and labor leaders. By the end of that year, the first Earth Day had led to the
creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage
of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. “It was a gamble,”
Gaylord recalled, “but it worked.”
As
1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders asked Denis Hayes to organize
another big campaign. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million
people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage.
Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave
the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also
prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal
of Freedom (1995)—the highest honor given to civilians in the United States—for
his role as Earth Day founder.
Earth Day Today
As
the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this
time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. With 5,000
environmental groups in a record 184 countries reaching out to hundreds of
millions of people, Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the
first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990.
Earth Day 2000 used the power of the Internet to organize activists, but also
featured a drum chain that traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC
for a First Amendment Rally. Earth Day 2000 sent world leaders the loud and
clear message that citizens around the world wanted quick and decisive action
on global warming and clean energy.
Much
like 1970, Earth Day 2010 came at a time of great challenge for the
environmental community. Climate change deniers, well-funded oil lobbyists,
reticent politicians, a disinterested public, and a divided environmental
community all contributed to the narrative—cynicism versus activism. Despite
these challenges, Earth Day prevailed and Earth Day Network reestablished Earth
Day as a relevant, powerful focal point. Earth Day Network brought 250,000
people to the National Mall for a Climate Rally, launched the world’s largest
environmental service project—A Billion Acts of Green®–introduced a global tree
planting initiative that has since grown into The Canopy Project, and engaged
75,000 partners in 192 countries in observing Earth Day.
Earth
Day had reached into its current status as the largest secular observance in
the world, celebrated by more than a billion people every year, and a day of
action that changes human behavior and provokes policy changes.
Today,
the fight for a clean environment continues with increasing urgency, as the
ravages of climate change become more manifest every day. We invite you to be a
part of Earth Day and help write many more chapters—struggles and
victories—into the Earth Day book.
