History Of The Earth Day

Earth Day is a name used for two different observances, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are planned to inspire awareness of and admiration for the Earth's environment. The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, a custom which was founded by peace campaigner John McConnell in 1969. A second Earth Day, which was founded by US politician Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in the late 1960s, is eminent in many countries each year on April 22. In September 1969, at a meeting in Seattle, Washington, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots show on the environment. Senator Nelson first proposed the nationwide environmental complaint to thrust the environment onto the national agenda.” "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."

Five months before the first April 22 Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times passed a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the rising tide of environmental events: "Rising concern about the environmental disaster is sweeping the nation's campuses with an concentration that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...." Senator Nelson also hired Denis Hayes as the coordinator.

Each year, the April 22 Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina an incident not acknowledged for 18 years. At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and slush with little fear of legal penalty or bad press. Air pollution was normally accepted as the smell of wealth. Environment was a word that appeared more frequently in spelling bees than on the evening news. But Earth Day 1970 turned that all around. On April 22, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his youthful staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities prepared 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.