The History of Earth Day
Each year, Earth Day—April 22—marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
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
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 22,000 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.
Stay tuned! 2020 marks the 50th
anniversary of Earth Day. In honor of this milestone, Earth Day Network
is preparing to announce an ambitious set of goals to shape the future
we need.
No comments:
Post a Comment