The first Earth Day helped put environmental issues on the national agenda in the U.S. The event also inspired various environmental legislation in the 1970s, including the Clean Water Act (1972) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (1976), according to Columbia University's State of the Planet news website.
And the impact of Earth Day has gone far beyond the U.S. For example, the United Nations General Assembly formally recognized April 22 as International Mother Earth Day in 2009, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. On Earth Day 2016, the United Nations adopted the Paris Climate Agreement, which saw nations around the world aim to keep global warming preferably below 1.5 Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) and well below 2 C (3.6 F) compared to pre-industrial levels.
However, despite Earth Day moments such as the Paris Climate Agreement pledges, climate change is far from resolved. The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the Economist Sustainability Summit in 2022 that the 1.5-degree goal is on "life support," and with emissions continuing to increase, "we are sleepwalking to climate catastrophe."