By: Grace Wright
Over many decades Americans were using inefficient cars leading to major air pollution. Many Americans were oblivious to this because they were told it was the smell of success and major corporations didn’t want them to know about the environmental or health issues.
Changed started with Rachel Carson; she published a New York Times bestseller ‘Silent Spring’ in 1962. It helped raise awareness to the public about how damaged the environment is and how it’s going to start affecting the public’s health.
Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin, had always been concerned about the impacts that were happening to the environment. But it wasn’t until he and many others saw the effects of the oil spill in Santa Barbara, CA in 1969.
This started anti-war protests, and Senator Nelson wanted to use the energy of the protests to help even more of the public understand what was happening. The way he thought this would work best would be teach-ins on college campuses.
Nelson recruited Denis Hayes, a young activist, to help organize the different campus teach-ins. They chose April 22 because it was between finals and spring break to help get more students to come.
The first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970. Hayes was able to promote the event across the U.S. to 20 million Americans which was only 10% of the population at the time. They took to the streets to help show the impact of what 150 years of industrial growth had done to the environment.
After the first Earth Day was the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They put through many environmental laws, started the Environmental Education Act and the Clean Water Act. Earth Day has now been happening for 55 years and over 1 billion people worldwide have participated in it.
What can do to help keep our environment clean and healthy? Don’t litter or if you see trash pick it up. Practice not letting the water run while brushing your teeth. You can donate to different organizations to help support the efforts too.
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