Also known as Earth Week 1970. Population growth, the impetus for Paul Erlich's seminal 1968 bestseller The Population Bomb, was blamed for bulldozing fields and forests to create sprawling suburbs. The event cemented in people's minds the importance of environmental issues as a community concern and an international political priority. It wasn’t one event. As a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, he also covers science, health, and environmental topics. We’re emitting 2.4 times more CO2. Nelson, undeterred, noticed that a number of small organizations had achieved some success in promoting environmental issues locally. We like to say that "Every day is Earth Day at NOAA." The History of Earth Day The First Earth Day. The first Earth Day in 1970 was a “youthquake.”. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10% of the U.S. population at the time — took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental … Senator Gaylord Nelson led the way toward a national Earth Day. When Was the First Earth Day? April 22, 1970 - Earth Day: The first national Earth Day. Because the first Earth Day fell on a school day, whole classes of students planted flowers, swept public spaces, recycled, and protested pollution. These and other incidents caught the attention of the national media and galvanized public awareness of the many environmental insults being hurled at the nation and the planet. Arthur J. Hanson is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Distinguished Fellow with IISD following his term as President and CEO from 1991-98. More than 2,000 colleges and universities, 10,000 public schools, and 20 million citizens participated—nearly 10 percent of the U.S. population at that time. These charts show that while progress has been made in some areas, humanity still has a major impact on the planet Denver, as it turns out, was a significant site for Earth Day 1970, attracting the holiday's founder to attend a 12-hour teach-in held at the city's Currigan Hall. That can be difficult to imagine today as we’re bombarded by calls for sustainability year-round. Together they organized the first Earth Day, which took place on April 22, 1970, and was designed as an “environmental teach-in” that would educate participants in the importance of environmental conservation. By blaming their use for the widespread decimation of bird and animal populations, she is credited for giving the environmental movement its robust scientific underpinnings. Twenty million … Lots of people alive today aren’t even old enough to remember the first Earth Day, celebrated on April 22, 1970—fifty years ago. Co-chaired by Congressman Pete McCloskey and coordinated by Denis Hayes, the first Earth Day takes the form of a nationwide protest against environmental ignorance. April 22 marks the 45th anniversary of Earth Day. The event was front-page news almost everywhere, and coverage was overwhelmingly positive. It also helped establish a political climate conducive to forming both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on October 3, 1970. Earth Day began a half-century ago on April 22, 1970. Here's what those events looked like. How was that possible? Our population has doubled. How was that possible? It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network [1] and celebrated in more than 193 countries each year. Air pollution in Los Angeles, New York City and other urban areas had reached such dangerously high levels that human health impacts were immediate and undeniable. This became the world’s first Earth Day. In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day … At a time when the Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal seem to electrify young activists, a look back at the first Earth Day can show how environmentalism came to matter to so many people. In 1963, Senator Nelson convinced President Kennedy to go on a national "conservation tour," but little came of it politically. This excerpt from a 1970 CBS News special report shows how citizens of Boston, Mass. This outpouring of grassroots environmental activism marked the first Earth Day—a recognition of the importance of caring for the environment and accepting stewardship responsibility for the nation's resources. April 19, 2020. Though Nelson helped to set up an independent organization—Environmental Teach-In, Inc., led by Denis Hayes, a student activist—to handle the flood of requests for information, the senator insisted that Earth Day be organized at the local level. These Stories Will Make You Reconsider, Holiday 2020 Giving: Drive-Throughs & More Ways to Donate During Pandemic, Find Your Birthstone by Month, Astrological Sign, and Day of the Week, Shop Original Artwork at First Ever Artists Sunday. The first Earth Day was revolutionary. The first Earth Day celebration took place on March 21, 1970, the vernal equinox that year. Sea levels have risen 4 inches. Especially over the last 49 years, since the first Earth Day. They could not be taken to court to stop it. Earth Day has continued to resonate on a personal and political level for over 40 years. Image courtesy of Cleveland Press Collection at Cleveland State University Library. That same year, reports surfaced that our national symbol, the bald eagle, was rapidly declining as a species due to the chemical DDT, while around the world, whales were being hunted nearly to extinction. Marc Lallanilla is a sustainable living and green design expert. The first Earth Day was deemed a blazing success. It may be hard to imagine that before 1970, a factory could spew black clouds of toxic smoke into the air or dump tons of toxic waste into a nearby stream, and that was perfectly legal. Here, he reflects on how plans for a "relatively small event" exploded into a global movement. A blaze in 1969 came at a time of increasing environmental awareness and symbolized years of environmental neglect. In Nelson's words, "The response was electric. That same year, Nelson introduced legislation to ban DDT: not one single member of Congress joined him. But on Earth Day in 2019 we've "now exceeded" even the highest ceiling of natural CO2 swings by some 130 ppm. There were no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our environment. Arthur J. Hanson, a former president of IISD, was one of them. By most estimates, some 20 million people took to the streets, vastly exceeding even the most optimistic expectations. ”. In 1970, 20 million individuals — at the time, 10% of the U.S. population — mobilized to call for greater protections for our planet. N early 50 years after 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, more than 190 countries mark the annual day for raising awareness of environmental causes. For many participants, Earth Day marked a turning point in their lives, when reckless consumption and unfettered industrial waste suddenly came under harsh scrutiny. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. Earth Day was born in 1970, into a world torn by political strife and emboldened by free-spirited activism. To a remarkable degree, Earth Day institutionalized protection for the land, air, and water. In 1962, Rachel Carson, a quiet loner from a Pennsylvania farm who became a renowned biologist and nature writer, published Silent Spring, a jeremiad against the spraying of DDT and other pesticides. It was at least 12,000, and most were organized by teenagers and twenty-somethings, says UB environmental historian Adam Rome. It may be hard to imagine that before 1970, a factory could spew black clouds of toxic smoke into the air or dump tons of toxic waste into a nearby stream, and that was perfectly legal. And astronauts on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon photographed Earth from space, creating an awe-inspiring image that fortified concern for our planet. 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 date was chosen because of its timing with student class schedules, warmer weather, and no competing holidays. But ever since April 22, 1970, people the world over take time to recognize the importance of protecting the Earth's natural resources—be they oceanic, atmospheric, terrestrial, or biological—for future generations. We can’t, of course, this month, so many people will be spending the next three days, instead, at Earth Day Live. Republicans, Democrats, school children, college students, labor unions, housewives, doctors, religious leaders, bankers, retirees, farmers and everyone in between participated in thousands of local marches, rallies, parades, protests, and other "happenings.". The original Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970, following on the heels of a teach-in on the environment, hosted by a handful of students and staff at the University of Michigan. On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River on the southern shores of Lake Erie caught on fire as chemicals, oil, and other industrial materials that had oozed into the river somehow ignited. On this day in 1970, over 20 million Americans attended demonstrations, protesting environmental pollution and demanding action to protect their habitat from further harm. Boho Meets Farmhouse in This Happy Marriage of a Home Trend, Think You’re Safe From Plant Pests? In spring 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day as a way to force this issue onto the national agenda. Earth Day began a half-century ago on April 22, 1970. The first Earth Day in 1970 mobilized millions of Americans for the protection of the planet. They could not be taken to court to stop it. Fifty years after the first Earth Day, we need, once more, to be in the streets. The first Earth Day was in 1970. The First Earth Day AT EARLHAM Earlham was all-in on the first Earth Day, and it marked a change that is still being felt today. Firefighters battle a fire on Ohio's Cuyahoga River in 1952. Speaking of children, it bears mentioning that, six years after the very first Earth Day, our daughter was born—on April 22, 1976. Because there was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, no Clean Water Act. 50 years ago when the first Earth Day happened, the networks that would later form the Internet were only beginning.. 20 years later, when Earth Day 1990 turned the celebration into a global event, the World-Wide Web existed only as a single website in Switzerland.. Today, the Internet is our lifeline.In a world locked down by coronavirus, the Internet is how we connect. Senator Gaylord Nelson led the way toward a national Earth Day. 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