Celebrate 35 years of Earth Day on April 22nd!
Friday, April 1 from 9 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
| "The earth will continue to regenerate its life sources only as long as we and all the peoples of the world do our part to
conserve its natural resources. It is a responsibility which every human being shares. Through voluntary action, each of us can
join in building a productive land in harmony with nature."
— President Gerald Ford
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History of Earth Day
Earth Day founder, Senator Gaylord Nelson, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda." "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked." (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.)
In 1970, 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.
On April 22, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his youthful staff organized 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 bi-partisan alignment, receiving support from Republicans and democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day lead to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency as well as the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts.
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 the status of environmental issues on to 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.
As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link activists around the world. By the time April 22 rolled around, 5,000 environmental groups around the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries. Earth Day 2000 sent the message loud and clear that citizens the world 'round wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy.
History from http://www.earthday.net/
For information on Earth Day activities and earth friendly information, visit the following websites:
| earthdaynetwork | http://www.earthday.net/ |
| Kid’s domain | http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/earthday/ |
| EPA | http://www.epa.gov/earthday/ |
| Wilderness Society | http://earthday.wilderness.org/ |
| EnviroLink Network | http://earthday.envirolink.org/ |