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The
idea for the first Earth Day came from
Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson, who, like many
others, was terribly concerned about the
deteriorating state of the
environment.
In 1969, at a
speech in Seattle, Senator Nelson suggested a
simultaneous set of national environmental teach-ins for
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Figure 2: Earth Day, 1970
Neol Boenzi, The New York Times
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spring of 1970. The environmental crisis,
Nelson
asserted, was "the most critical issue facing
mankind," making "Vietnam, nuclear war,
hunger, decaying cities, and all the other major
problems one could name... relatively insignificant
by comparison." On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day
was celebrated in the United States. Twenty million
people participated in demonstrations and teach-ins
around the country. In the energized months and
years following the first Earth Day, President Nixon
enacted the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, National
Environmental Protection Act, and created the
Environmental Protection Agency. Concern for the
environment became a patriotic value. In 1990, Earth Day
was again a huge celebration across America and
celebrated in 141 countries around the world.
Today, there are hundreds of sites containing the phrase
"Earth Day" accessible on the World Wide Web. |
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Gaylord Nelson
reflecting on the impact of Earth Day in an article in
the
1995 EPA Journal.
"Since Earth Day 1970,
Congress has enacted nearly 40 major federal
environmental laws addressing a wide range of issues,
including clean air, clean water, energy conservation,
hazardous wastes, herbicides and pesticides. Dozens of
individual public lands bills have been enacted since
1970 to designate or expand wilderness areas, wild and
scenic rivers, national parks, and wildlife refuges.
Perhaps most important, more than 80 percent of
Americans now regard themselves as concerned environmentalists.
Increasingly, we are
coming to understand that air, water, soil, forests,
minerals, rivers, lakes oceans, scenic beauty, wildlife
habitats and biodiversity constitute the wealth of the
nation. This is our capital. In short, these
resources are all there is. That's the whole economy.
That's where all the economic activity-and all the
jobs-come from.
At this point in
history, no nation has managed to evolve into a
sustainable society. All are pursuing a self-destructive
course; we are fueling our economies by degrading our
resource base.
The challenge of
creating a sustainable society implies a bigger destiny
than Roosevelt was thinking about in 1936. I am
optimistic the generation now preparing to take the helm
will have the foresight and will do so."
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* For additional information see: Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day (http://www.nelsonearthday.net/index.htm)
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