In the words of the founding father, Gaylord Nelson, the first Earth Day “organized itself”. In September of 1969, Senator Nelson proposed a nationwide environmental protest. Originally he called the grassroots demonstration a “National Environment Teach-In”. The catchy term “Earth Day” was adopted by the media as well as members of his team, partly because it rhymed with “birthday”. One of Nelson’s team members would be celebrating a birthday on April 22, the same day as the scheduled “teach-in”. This was simply a coincidence. In fact, the date was chosen in order to maximize student participation. Mid-April is a time when most students are in school and do not have exams, holidays, or other distractions. Nelson had high hopes for Earth Day. He hoped it would be as effective as the national anti-war protests about Vietnam that were taking place on college campuses across the country in the 60′s. Nelson’s vision came true. On April 22nd 1970, approximately 20 million Americans, including thousands of students who left their college, high school and grade school classrooms, took to the streets in peaceful protest.
In his Time magazine article, Taking the Long View , Stewart Brand wrote these famous words: “It is no accident of history that the first Earth Day, in April 1970, came so soon after color photographs of the whole earth from space were made by homesick astronauts on the Apollo 8 mission to the moon in December 1968…Suddenly humans had a planet to tend to.” The issue of the environment had not even been addressed by the 1968 presidential candidates, yet Senator Nelson was right in thinking that the large protest could reach the political agenda with the help of energetic students. In 1970, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established. Shortly after that the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act were established. Canada and the US agreed to clean up the Great Lakes. Automobile makers were forced to give in to the new EPA requirements as well. They began building cars equipped with catalytic converters that ran on unleaded gasoline. In 1972, the harmful pesticide DDT was banned. Many environmentalists believe this decision helped save the bald eagle from extinction in the US.
Despite the original success of the first Earth Day, the effect was not long lasting. Issues related to the Vietnam War and civil rights once again took center stage in the media and Earth Day wasn’t officially resurrected until 1980. On the tenth anniversary of the first Earth Day, the turnout was about 3 million people. It would take another decade before Earth Day truly became an annual event extending across the globe. In 1990, approximately 200 million people worldwide showed their support for the environmental movement. Several events were coordinated, including an international team of mountain climbers who cleaned up two tons of garbage left by previous trekkers on Mount Everest.
Inspired by this turnout, the UN held an Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and the environment was awarded the top spot on the world agenda. More than 100 leaders from all over the world joined together to address the most important environmental issue, climate change. A 300 page document was created, including Agenda 21, a plan for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century. A five and a ten year review known as Rio +5 and Rio +10 were held in 1997 and 2002 to determine the progress of the first Earth Summit. One of the primary issues that came out of these follow up summits was that the environment and poverty are closely linked.
Estimates suggest that up to 1 billion people celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd in over 175 countries. While the day is meant to bring about change in how humans treat the environment, good intentions do not equal progress. Giant concerts held on Earth Day, like the one in Central Park in 1990, leave many eco-conscious groups shaking their heads about the waste left behind.
6. Like any other trend, Earth Day, and living green in general, seem to be more fashionable some years than others. After the 9/11 attacks, the environment once again took a backseat while the media focused on war and terrorism. In 2006, Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” sparked yet another movement in environmental awareness, especially on the topic of climate change. Reusable bottles and bags quickly became the hottest items you could buy
