World Wildlife Fund Earth Day Green turtle 2011
Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson, United States Senator from Wisconsin, as a national environmental "teach-in" to be held on every university campus in the U.S.A. It was first held on April 22, 1970. The idea came to him after he saw firsthand the horrible devastation of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Nelson hoped that if he could mix the energy from the student anti-war movement of Vietnam during the late 1960's with the public awareness about pollution, he might be able to bring environmental protection issues to the forefront of the national political agenda. Denis Hayes, a Harvard graduate student, became the national coordinator & they organized groups in about 12,000 high schools, 2,000 colleges and universities and a couple of thousand other community groups
Ron Cobb's 1969 Ecology symbol
The following 2 paragraphs are quoted from the Earth Day Network website, "As a result, on the 22nd of April, 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. The first Earth Day 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."
Now Earth Day is organized worldwide by the Earth Day Network, which was founded by Denis Hayes. It is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. In many places Earth Week is filled with activities focused on environmental issues throughout the week surrounding Earth Day.
What will you do to celebrate Earth Day this year & to help protect our environment?
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