Earth Day: The History
of A Movement
Sulekha Rani.R, PGT Chemistry
Each
year, Earth Day -- April 22 -- marks the anniversary of what many consider the
birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
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| Earth Day Flag By John McConnell-- The blue marble on Blue field.. |
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| Gaylord Anton Nelson (June 4, 1916 – July 3, 2005) was an American politician from Wisconsin who served as a United States Senator andgovernor. A Democrat, he was the principal founder of Earth Day.
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The
height of hippie and flower-child culture in the United States, 1970 brought
the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s
“Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Protest was the order of the day, but saving the
planet was not the cause. War raged in Vietnam, and students nationwide
increasingly 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 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 for the modern environmental movement, selling
more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries and, up until that moment, more than any
other person, Ms. Carson raised public awareness and concern for living
organisms, the environment and public health.
Earth
Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of
the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns front and
center.
The
idea 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 as national coordinator.
Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land.
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, andEndangered 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.
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.
It used the Internet to organize activists, but also featured a talking drum
chain that traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, and hundreds of
thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Earth Day
2000 sent world leaders the loud and clear message that citizens around the
world wanted quick and decisive action on 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 a strong narrative that overshadowed the cause of
progress and change. In spite of the challenge, for its 40th anniversary, Earth
Day Network reestablished Earth Day as a powerful focal point around which
people could demonstrate their commitment. Earth Day Network brought 225,000
people to the National Mall for a Climate Rally, amassed 40 million
environmental service actions toward its 2012 goal of A Billion Acts of Green®,
launched an international, 1-million tree planting initiative with Avatar
director James Cameron and tripled its online base to over 900,000 community
members.
The
fight for a clean environment continues in a climate of 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 victories and successes into
our history. Discover energy you didn't even know you had. Feel it rumble
through the grassroots under your feet and the technology at your fingertips.
Channel it into building a clean, healthy, diverse world for generations to
come
