In case you didn’t notice, it’s Earth Day. Did you recycle? Instead of diving into the obvious benefits of taking care of the earth or listing all the Earth Day activities going on around these parts, I thought I would blog a little bit about the history of Earth Day. To be honest, I knew nothing about how this day got started. But after a couple of Google searches it didn’t take me long to discover that we owe this day to a 1969 U.S. Senator, Gaylord Nelson.

“In 1969, as a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson came up with one of the most powerful ideas of his time: Earth Day. Inspired by the teach-ins formed to protest the Vietnam War, Earth Day was an instant success, drawing 20 million participants the first year (1970).

“American Heritage Magazine called the first Earth Day ‘one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy.’”  (The Wilderness Society)

Apparently, Nelson was always a supporter of conservation and preserving natural resources.  From what I’ve read, there weren’t a lot of politicians in Washington who shared his passion for environmental change. But he had an idea.

“While flying back from touring the ravaged landscapes of California after a huge oil spill, he read an article about “teach-ins” organized by college students and faculty to raise awareness on campus about the Vietnam War. What if, Nelson wondered, hundreds of colleges across the country hosted environmental teach-ins all at the same time? The grassroots outcry might prove to Washington just how distressed Americans were in every constituency.” (NelsonEarthDay.net)

His proposal for teach-ins spread quickly, thanks to the press. Soon Nelson and his staff announced that April 22, 1970—a date supposedly chosen to fit best in college schedules between spring break and finals—would be a day they called the “National Teach-In on the Crisis of the Environment.” How that came to be called “Earth Day” is still fuzzy to me, but the American people were all about it.

In 1995, Nelson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Bill Clinton noted, “as the founder of Earth Day, he is the grandfather of all that grew out of that event — the Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act. He also set a standard for people in public service to care about the environment and try to do something about it.” (Wilderness.org)

And there you have my brief summary on the history of Earth Day. I find it inspiring actually. You never know what can happen when you gather together many different types of people who desire to see a similar kind of change. And this all happened before online social networking was born! Imagine the possibilities now.

Stay green, peeps.

Photo Courtesy of NelsonEarthDay.net

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