How It All Began

In 1969, Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide Earth Day to help put environmental issues onto the national agenda. “It was a gamble,” he recalls, “but it worked.”

The inspiration to create Earth Day came after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. 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. Earth Day 1970 capitalized on this emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement of the late 1960’s, and forcing 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.

On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated both in Washington, D.C., and on college campuses throughout the country.  An estimated 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 dwellers and farmers, businesses and labor leaders. An estimated 20 million people participated in events calling for a healthy, sustainable environment. The first Earth Day helped the national push to create the United States Environmental Protection Agency and to pass the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.  Senator Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor given to civilians in the United States, for his role as Earth Day founder. This day marks what many consider as the birth of the modern environmental movement.