The History of Earth Day | Earth Day Network The History of Earth Day Search for: Search 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. TAKE ACTION Why is Earth Day on April 22? | Earth | EarthSky Why is Earth Day on April 22? By Deborah Byrd in Earth | Human World | April 22, 2016 April 22, 1970 – Arbor Day – was the first Earth Day. Today, a common practice in celebration of Earth Day is still to plant new trees. Cherry trees blooming in Antelope Valley California, as captured by our friend Kerri Willerford. Thanks Kerri! The first Earth Day – April 22, 1970 – marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Approximately 20 million Americans, especially on college campuses, participated in a national teach-in on environmental issues and protests against environmental deterioration on the first Earth Day.

It’s hard to imagine it now, but the first Earth Day was a revelation to many, a way not only of raising consciousness about environmental issues but also of bringing together separate groups that had been fighting separately against issues including oil spills, pollutions from factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, the loss of wilderness, air pollution and more. Since then, Earth Day is always celebrated on April 22. But why April 22? In the late 1960s, there were love-ins, be-ins … and, like the first Earth Day, teach-ins. Here are two organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970. Image via earthday2013funphotos.com Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson is widely credited with suggesting the first Earth Day on April 22. It was a movement whose time had come, and Nelson wasn’t alone in 1970 in suggesting a grassroots demonstration aimed at protecting the environment. San Francisco activist John McConnell also asked Americans to join in a demonstration in 1970, and McConnell chose the spring equinox (March 21, 1970) as his date.

Today, you can find Earth Day events on both the spring equinox and April 22. April 22 continues to be the larger event, however, and the official date of Earth Day. Some say April 22 was chosen to maximize the number of students who could be reached on university campuses, and that’s undoubtedly true. But the April 22 date for the first Earth Day also stemmed from a much-earlier observance: Arbor Day, which began in Nebraska in 1872. The date of Earth Day, April 22, stems from an earlier observance, Arbor Day. The most common practice on Arbor Day was the planting of trees. Here is Arbor Day at N.Y. Public School #4, 173rd St. & Fulton Ave., New York. Date unknown. Via Library of Congress. J. Sterling Morton was a Nebraska pioneer, a writer and editor for Nebraska’s first newspaper, and later secretary of the Nebraska Territory. He advocated planting trees in what was then a dusty and treeless prairie. At a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture in January 1872, Morton proposed that Nebraska citizens set aside April 10 as a day to plant trees.

He suggested offering prizes as incentives for communities and organizations that planted the most trees. It’s said that Nebraskans planted about one million trees on that first Arbor Day in 1872. Ten years later, in 1882, Nebraska declared Arbor Day as a legal holiday and the date was changed to Morton’s birthday, April 22. Arbor Day grew to become a national observance. I can recall learning about it as a child in the 1950s and ’60s. It seemed natural to schedule April 22, 1970 – Arbor Day – as the first Earth Day. Today, a common practice in celebration of Earth Day is still to plant new trees. Bottom line: Why do we celebrate Earth Day on April 22? The date stems from an earlier observance, Arbor Day. And the date of Arbor Day was set due to the birthday of J. Sterling Morton, a Nebraska pioneer and journalist, who launched the first Arbor Day in 1872.

Earth Day - Holidays - HISTORY.com Earth Day A+E Networks Introduction Founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues, Earth Day is now a globally celebrated holiday that is sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of events focused on green awareness. The brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson and inspired by the antiwar protests of the late 1960s, Earth Day was originally aimed at creating a mass environmental movement. It began as a “national teach-in on the environment” and was held on April 22 to maximize the number of students that could be reached on university campuses. By raising public awareness of air and water pollution, Nelson hoped to bring environmental causes into the national spotlight. Google Earth Day History By the early 1960s Americans were becoming aware of the effects of pollution on the environment. Rachel Carson’s 1962 bestseller “Silent Spring” raised the specter of the dangerous effects of pesticides on America’s countrysides. Later in the decade, a 1969 fire on Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River shed light on the problem of chemical waste disposal.

Until that time, protecting the planet’s natural resources was not part of the national political agenda, and the number of activists devoted to large-scale issues such as industrial pollution was minimal. Factories pumped pollutants into the air, lakes and rivers with few legal consequences. Big, gas-guzzling cars were considered a sign of prosperity. Only a small portion of the American population was familiar with–let alone practiced–recycling. Did You Know? A highlight of the United Nations' Earth Day celebration in New York City is the ringing of the Peace Bell, a gift from Japan, at the exact moment of the vernal equinox. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin , was determined to convince the federal government that the planet was at risk. In 1969, Nelson, considered one of the leaders of the modern environmental movement, developed the idea for Earth Day after being inspired by the anti- Vietnam War “teach-ins” that were taking place on college campuses around the United States.

According to Nelson, he envisioned a large-scale, grassroots environmental demonstration “to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda.” Nelson announced the Earth Day concept at a conference in Seattle in the fall of 1969 and invited the entire nation to get involved. He later recalled, “The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes and air—and they did so with spectacular exuberance.” Dennis Hayes, a young activist who had served as student president at Stanford University, was selected as Earth Day’s national coordinator, and he worked with an army of student volunteers and several staff members from Nelson’s Senate office to organize the project. According to Nelson, “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day.

It organized itself.” On April 22, rallies were held in Philadelphia, Chicago , Los Angeles and most other American cities, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. In New York City, Mayor John Lindsay closed off a portion of Fifth Avenue to traffic for several hours and spoke at a rally in Union Square with actors Paul Newman and Ali McGraw. In Washington , D.C., thousands of people listened to speeches and performances by singer Pete Seeger and others, and Congress went into recess so its members could speak to their constituents at Earth Day events. The first Earth Day was effective at raising awareness about environmental issues and transforming public attitudes. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “Public opinion polls indicate that a permanent change in national priorities followed Earth Day 1970. When polled in May 1971, 25 percent of the U.S. public declared protecting the environment to be an important goal, a 2,500 percent increase over 1969.” Earth Day kicked off the “Environmental decade with a bang,” as Senator Nelson later put it.

During the 1970s, a number of important pieces of environmental legislation were passed, among them the Clean Air Act, the Water Quality Improvement Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Another key development was the establishment in December 1970 of the Environmental Protection Agency, which was tasked with protecting human health and safeguarding the natural environment—air, water and land. Since 1970, Earth Day celebrations have grown. In 1990, Earth Day went global, with 200 million people in over 140 nations participating, according to the Earth Day Network (EDN), a nonprofit organization that coordinates Earth Day activities. In 2000, Earth Day focused on clean energy and involved hundreds of millions of people in 184 countries and 5,000 environmental groups, according to EDN. Activities ranged from a traveling, talking drum chain in Gabon, Africa, to a gathering of hundreds of thousands of people at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Today, the Earth Day Network collaborates with more than 17,000 partners and organizations in 174 countries. According to EDN, more than 1 billion people are involved in Earth Day activities, making it “the largest secular civic event in the world.” Tags Earth Day | Article about Earth Day by The Free Dictionary Earth Day | Article about Earth Day by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Wikipedia . Earth Day, Apr. 22, a day to celebrate the environment. The first Earth Day was organized in 1970 to promote the ideas of ecology, encourage respect for life on earth, and highlight growing concern over pollution of the soil, air, and water. Earth Day is now observed in 140 nations with outdoor performances, exhibits, street fairs, and television programs that focus on environmental issues. Earth Day Date of Observation: April 22 Where Celebrated: In countries all over the world Symbols and Customs: Environmental Activities Related Holidays: Arbor Day ORIGINS Earth Day was first observed on April 22, 1970, at a time when concern for the environment was just emerging as a public issue.

More than twenty million Americans took to the streets to demonstrate their concern for the environment, making it the largest demonstration in the nation's history. In Washington DC, more than 200,000 gathered on the Mall in front of the Capitol building to encourage government officials and their fellow citizens to preserve the wilderness and the earth's natural resources. Almost every politician in Washington was involved in the event, although, up to this point, most of them had assumed that environmental issues were relatively low on the average citizen's list of priorities. The idea of preserving the environment was nothing new. Explorers, writers, and naturalists like John Muir, John J. Audubon, and Henry David Thoreau had already fought to save the American wilderness. Their efforts led to the establishment of the national park system and groups like the Sierra Club and the Wilderness Society. But it was Rachel Carson who brought the environmental message home to Americans with her 1962 book, Silent Spring. It warned people about the deadly effects of chemical pollution and led to the passage of federal laws banning DDT and other harmful agricultural chemicals.

It was Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin who came up with the idea for setting aside a day to honor the environment in which we live, and forty-two state legislatures passed Earth Day resolutions. Nelson's original idea was to hold an environmental "teach-in"-a day-long educational event that combined rallies, speeches, lectures, and other programs designed to raise public awareness of the hazards facing the environment. Nelson was also the first Congressman to introduce a bill banning DDT, and he sponsored a number of bills aimed at preserving the Appalachian Trail and other wild and scenic areas in the United States. Activities that first year varied widely: Some cities lowered bus fares to encourage more people to leave their cars at home, while 200 demonstrators carried coffins into Boston's Logan Airport to protest its noise-polluting plans for expansion. Elsewhere, concerned citizens collected garbage and deposited it on the steps of their local courthouse or statehouse. Mayor John Lindsay of New York led a march that closed down part of the city's Fifth Avenue, one of the busiest commercial streets in the world.

Altogether, more than 20 million people in 2,000 communities and on 12,000 high school and college campuses participated in ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVITIES . April 22 is also ARBOR DAY, which, with its emphasis on planting trees, has been largely replaced by Earth Day. Some people observe Earth Day on the VERNAL EQUINOX . Although the observation of Earth Day has lost some of its initial excitement, it has become much more widespread over the past thirty years. In 1990, for example, more than 300,000 people gathered at the Capitol in Washington, while 200,000 gathered in Boston, 500,000 in New York City, 100,000 in Chicago, and 50,000 in San Francisco. It was estimated that somewhere around 200 million people in 136 countries celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the event that helped spark the modern environmental movement.

Ten years later, on April 22, 2000, hundreds of millions of people celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of Earth Day, participating in scheduled events in 184 countries. In one of the largest events, held in Washington DC, hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall with politicians, celebrities, and activists to celebrate Earth Day 2000. In addition to demonstrations, concrete action has been taken in support of Earth Day, including the United Nations' work on the Kyoto Protocol. As part of a global commitment to address the increasing problem of global warming, the U.N. adoped the Kyoto Protocol as an amendment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on December 11, 1997, in Kyoto, Japan. Whereas the UNFCCC, adopted in 1992, encouraged reduction of emissions by developed nations, the Kyoto Protocol required participating nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least five percent (against 1990 levels) by 2012.

For the Protocol to become binding, at least fifty-five countries and industrialized nations responsible for fifty-five percent of greenhouse gas emissions in 1990 needed to ratify the agreement. On February 16, 2005, following the ratification by Russia, the Kyoto Protocol became legally binding for over 141 countries. Developing nations such as China, Some Prominent Environmental Organizations in the U.S. Environmental Defense Fund, founded in 1967 to create initiatives to protect the environment National Wildlife Federation, founded in 1936 to protect wildlife Nature Conservancy, founded in 1951 to protect natural resources Sierra Club, founded in 1892 by John Muir and others to foster appreciation and preservation of the environment Brazil, and India have signed the protocol, but are not legally bound by it. Over 160 nations have committed to the agreement so far. But the largest global polluter, the United States, has not ratified the agreement. Instead, the U.S. has proposed its own climate change initiative, which calls for voluntary reduction in emissions.

SYMBOLS AND CUSTOMS Environmental Activities The most common way to observe Earth Day is by participating in activities designed to preserve the environment and our natural resources. These include collecting garbage for sorting and recycling, avoiding the use of gasoline-powered vehicles, picking up roadside trash, and planting trees. Schoolchildren often pack their lunches in recyclable containers, and families try to give up wasteful habits such as using paper towels and plastic garbage bags. Several major environmental groups have undertaken environmental activities aimed at stopping development, offshore drilling for oil, and the construction of new highways and nuclear power plants. FURTHER READING Henderson, Helene, ed. Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary. 3rd ed. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2005. Mowrey, Marc, and Tim Redmond. Not in Our Backyard: The People and Events That Shaped America's Modern Environmental Movement. New York: W. Morrow, 1993. Trawicky, Bernard, and Ruth W. Gregory. Anniversaries and Holidays. 5th ed. Chicago: American Library Assocation, 2000.

WEB SITE Earth Day Network Official Web Site Earth Day April 22 The first Earth Day was observed on April 22, 1970, for the purpose of drawing public attention to the need for cleaning up the earth's air and water and for conserving our natural resources. Since that time the idea has spread, and Earth Day is now observed regularly throughout the United States and in many other countries (though there were some years of slack observance until the late 1980s). Typical ways of celebrating Earth Day include planting trees, picking up roadside trash, and conducting various programs for recycling and conservation. Schoolchildren may be asked to use only recyclable containers for their snacks and lunches, and environmentally concerned families often try to give up wasteful habits, such as using paper towels or plastic garbage bags. Earth days have been observed by other groups as well. The day of the Vernal Equinox is also observed by some as Earth Day. CONTACTS: Earth Day Home Calendar Holidays Worldwide Holidays Earth Day Earth Day Earth Day is a name used for 2 similar global observances. While some people celebrate Earth Day around the time of the March Equinox , others observe the occasion on April 22 each year.

Earth Day aims to inspire awareness of and appreciation for earth's environment. It's not to be confused with Earth Hour . People unite on Earth Day to appreciate and respect earth's environment. People unite on Earth Day to appreciate and respect earth's environment. ©iStockphoto.com/webphotographeer What Do People Do The April 22 Earth Day is usually celebrated with outdoor performances, where individuals or groups perform acts of service to earth. Typical ways of observing Earth Day include planting trees, picking up roadside trash, conducting various programs for recycling and conservation, using recyclable containers for snacks and lunches. Some people are encouraged to sign petitions to governments, calling for stronger or immediate action to stop global warming and to reverse environmental destruction. Television stations frequently air programs dealing with environmental issues. Public Life Earth Day is not a public holiday and public life, with regard to transport schedules and opening hours for schools and businesses, is not affected. Background The April 22 Earth Day, founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson, was first organized in 1970 to promote ecology and respect for life on the planet as well as to encourage awareness of the growing problems of air, water and soil pollution.

Some people prefer to observe Earth Day around the time of the March equinox . In 1978, American anthropologist Margaret Mead added her support for the equinox Earth Day, founded by John McConnell. She stated that the selection of the March Equinox for Earth Day made planetary observance of a shared event possible. Symbols Symbols used by people to describe Earth Day include: an image or drawing of planet earth; a tree, a flower or leaves depicting growth; or the recycling symbol. Colors used for Earth Day include natural colors such as green, brown or blue. The “Earth Flag”, which was designed by John McConnell, has been described as a “flag for all people”. It features a two-sided dye printed image of the Earth from space on a dark blue field, made from recyclable, weather-resistant polyester. Margaret Mead believed that a flag that showed the Earth as seen from space was appropriate. Earth Day Earth Day Celebrated every April 22, Earth Day is the largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide. More than 6 million Canadians join 500 million people in over 180 countries in staging events and projects to address local environmental issues. Nearly every school child in Canada takes part in an Earth Day activity.

Earth Day is celebrated in many countries on the Vernal Equinox (March 20th or 21st) which marks the moment that Spring begins in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. In Canada, the United States and several other countries, Earth Day is primarily celebrated on April 22nd of each year. The concept of Earth Day began in the spring of 1970. Exactly how and when it was conceived, as well as who was responsible for its origination, is still debated. VERNAL EQUINOX EARTH DAY The first celebration of Earth Day was on March 21, 1970 as a day to celebrate the natural wonders of our planet and to think about Earth's tender seedlings of life. This celebration was first proposed by John McConnell in early October 1969 in San Francisco, California. UN Secretary General U Thant supported John McConnell’s global initiative and spoke in its behalf at a Peace Bell Ceremony at the United Nations on March 21, 1971. The United Nations Earth Day ceremony continued each year with the ringing of the U.N. Peace Bell at the precise moment of the Equinox, followed by two minutes of silent prayer or reflection.

The Earth Society is largely responsible for these ceremonial activities. One of the member nations of the United Nations arranges to sponsor the event. Corresponding ceremonies are held at the same time in various cities around the world. APRIL 22nd EARTH DAY The common April 22nd celebration of Earth Day was also first celebrated in 1970. This event, spearheaded by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson and Harvard University student Denis Hayes, involved teach-ins that addressed decades of environmental pollution. The first event was observed by twenty million Americans, most of them students. Arbor Day activities were modified to emphasize the critical importance of the environment and to make the American public aware of the destruction of the earth's natural preserves. The sponsors hoped to start an environmental movement that would alter industrial practices and human consumption. The event inspired the US Congress to pass clean air and water acts and to establish the Environmental Protection Agency. Since the first event in 1970, the holiday has been an annual event for people around the world to celebrate the earth and renew their commitment to building a safer, healthier and cleaner world. Although Earth Day is not a statutory holiday, it has helped Canadians realize that they can and should do something to protect the environment.

What Is Earth Day? By Larry West Updated April 19, 2016. Earth Day is the name given to two different annual observances that are intended to raise awareness about a wide range of environmental issues and problems, and to inspire people to take personal action to address them. Except for that general goal, the two events are unrelated, even though both were founded about a month apart in 1970 and both have gained wider acceptance and popularity ever since. The First Earth Day In the United States, Earth Day is celebrated by most people on April 22, but there is another celebration that predates that one by approximately a month and is celebrated internationally. The first Earth Day celebration took place on March 21, 1970, the vernal equinox that year. It was the brainchild of John McConnell , a newspaper publisher and influential community activist, who proposed the idea of a global holiday called Earth Day at a UNESCO Conference on the Environment in 1969. McConnell suggested an annual observance to remind the people of Earth of their shared responsibility as environmental stewards.

He chose the vernal equinox—the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere , the first day of autumn in the southern hemisphere —because it is a day of renewal. At the vernal equinox (always March 20 or March 21), night and day are the same length everywhere on Earth. McConnell believed that Earth Day should be a time of equilibrium when people could put aside their differences and recognize their common need to preserve Earth’s resources. On February 26, 1971, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signed a proclamation saying that the United Nations would celebrate Earth Day annually on the vernal equinox, thereby officially establishing the March date as the international Earth Day. In his Earth Day statement on March 21, 1971, U Thant said, “May there only be peaceful and cheerful Earth Days to come for our beautiful Spaceship Earth as it continues to spin and circle in frigid space with its warm and fragile cargo of animate life.” The United Nations continues to celebrate Earth Day each year by ringing the Peace Bell at U.N. headquarters in New York at the precise moment of the vernal equinox.

The History of Earth Day in America On April 22, 1970, the Environmental Teach-In held a nationwide day of environmental education and activism that it called Earth Day. The event was inspired and organized by environmental activist and U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin. Nelson wanted to show other U.S. politicians that there was widespread public support for a political agenda centered on environmental issues. Nelson began organizing the event from his Senate office, assigning two staff members to work on it, but soon more space and more people were needed. John Gardner, founder of Common Cause, donated office space. Nelson selected Denis Hayes, a Harvard University student, to coordinate Earth Day activities and gave him a staff of volunteer college students to help. The event was wildly successful, sparking Earth Day celebrations at thousands of colleges, universities, schools and communities all across the United States.

An October 1993 article in American Heritage Magazine proclaimed, “…April 22, 1970, Earth Day was…one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy… 20 million people demonstrated their support… American politics and public policy would never be the same again.” Following the Earth Day celebration inspired by Nelson, which demonstrated widespread grassroots support for environmental legislation, Congress passed many important environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act , Clean Water Act , Safe Drinking Water Act , as well as laws to protect wilderness areas. The Environmental Protection Agency was created within three years after Earth Day 1970. In 1995, Nelson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton for his role in founding Earth Day, raising awareness of environmental issues, and promoting environmental action. The Importance of Earth Day Now No matter when you celebrate Earth Day, its message about the personal responsibility we all share to “think globally and act locally” as environmental stewards of planet Earth has never been more timely or important. Our planet is in crisis due to global warming, overpopulation, and other critical environmental issues.

Every person on Earth shares the responsibility to do as much as they can to preserve the planet’s finite natural resources today and for future generations. First Earth Day celebrated, April 22, 1970 - POLITICO POLITICO Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Earth Day, an event aimed at raising public awareness of environmental issues, was celebrated for the first time on this day in 1970. Tens of millions of Americans participated in rallies, marches and educational programs to mark the occasion. As a result, “the environment” became a household phrase, one now often seen and heard in the news. Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.), a staunch environmental advocate, promoted the teach-in project, hoping to unify the environmental movement and raise ecological awareness throughout the nation.

“It was a gamble,” Nelson, who died in 2005, recalled, “but it worked.” Story Continued Below “The objective,” he explained, “was to get a nationwide demonstration of concern for the environment so large that it would shake the political establishment out of its lethargy and, finally, force this issue permanently onto the national political agenda.” The idea came to him in August 1969 after surveying the oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. For the past few years, college students had been staging campus “teach-ins” about the war in Vietnam. What if, Nelson thought, students used similar forums to raise environmental awareness, and what if they coordinated their events to fall on the same day, grabbing headlines and sending a clear environmental message to Capitol Hill? He advanced the idea to a small conservation group in Seattle on Sept. 20, which yielded a short wire story. Nine months later, his idea took off. Nelson’s speeches on Earth Day stressed that environmental concerns must also include dealing with poverty, hunger and urban blight. As he put it: “Our goal is not just an environment of clean air and water and scenic beauty.

The objective is an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human being and all living creatures.” Spurred by Nelson’s initiative, some 20 million Americans called for action. Tens of thousands of students protested against wanton environmental degradation. Denis Hayes, the national coordinator whom Nelson recruited, organized coast-to-coast rallies. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills; polluting factories and power plants; raw sewage; toxic dumps; pesticides; congested freeways; the loss of wilderness areas; and the threatened extinction of wildlife; saw that they shared common goals. The environmental movement quickly gained governmental traction. In July 1970, President Richard Nixon signed an executive order creating the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce recently enacted anti-pollution legislation. Some 45 years later, Congress voted $8.1 billion to fund the agency in fiscal 2015. SOURCE: U.S. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Earth Day Origins By Larry West Updated November 04, 2016. Earth Day is celebrated annually by millions of people worldwide, but how did Earth Day begin? When was the first Earth Day? This is a trickier question than you might think.

There are actually two official Earth Day celebrations every year, and both got their start in the spring of 1970. The First Widespread Earth Day Celebration The Earth Day most often celebrated in the United States—and in many other countries around the world—first took place on April 22, 1970. It was a nationwide teach-in about the environment, dreamed up by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson . A Democrat from Wisconsin, Senator Nelson had been instrumental earlier in introducing conservation in John F. Kennedy's presidency. Gaylord Nelson's Earth Day was modeled on the anti-war teach-in demonstrations that Vietnam war protesters had used successfully to educate people about their issues. On the first Earth Day, more than 20 million people turned out at thousands of colleges, universities and communities all across America for an environmental teach-in day, which sparked a global environmental reawakening. More than half a billion people in 175 countries now celebrate Earth Day on April 22. The April 22 date was chosen for its fit within the American college calendar, before end-of-semester exams but when the weather is likely to be relatively pleasant nationwide.

Conspiracy theorists relish the fact that April 22 is also the birthday of Vladimir Lenin, seeing in that choice more than the mere coincidence that it is. A Second Claim to "First Earth Day" Yet, it may surprise you to learn that April 22, 1970 was not the first Earth Day. A month earlier, San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto had issued the first-ever Earth Day proclamation on March 21, 1970. Mayor Alioto's action was inspired by John McConnell , a San Francisco publisher and peace activist, who a year earlier had attended the 1969 UNESCO Conference on the Environment where he proposed an international holiday focused on environmental stewardship and preservation. McConnell suggested that Earth Day coincide with the March equinox —the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere, March 20 or 21 depending on the year. It is a date filled with all the symbolism associated with spring, including hope and renewal. That is, until one remembers that south of the equator that date signifies the end of summer and the beginning of autumn.

About a year later, on February 26, 1971, then-UN Secretary General U Thant supported McConnell's proposal for an annual global Earth Day celebration at the March equinox, and issued a proclamation to make it official. Today, the United Nations rallies with Senator Nelson's plan and every year promotes an April 22nd celebration of what they call Mother Earth Day.

Question: What holiday was first celebrated on April 22, 1970?
Answer: Earth Day