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 Earth Day began as an idea. Like many good
ideas it wasn't an idea unique to one person as two events
called "Earth Day" were both planned during 1969 to
ultimately be held in the Spring of 1970.
Chronologically, the first Earth Day event was conceived by
author John McConnell as an event "to think about Earth's tender seedlings of
life." Overseen by the mayor, Joseph Alito, this event
was held in a single city, San Francisco, California on the
vernal equinox, March 21, 1970.
The larger, and more famous Earth Day was
conceived by then Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson as a
program to get thousands of college students on dozens
of campuses to devote an entire day to speeches,  seminars, and
projects on natural resources and the environment. This event
was planned against the backdrop of social unrest as a result
of the Vietnam War and associated protests, and in the wake of
one of the largest oil spills in history in Santa Barbara
Channel. The most powerful environmental organizations were
fighting air pollution and water pollution as smog was
beginning to be recognized and the Great Lakes, especially
Lake Erie, were dying. To avoid activist overtones Gaylord Nelson's event
was planned to be a peaceful, educational event.
A twenty-five year old graduate student in Harvard's joint program
of law and public policy named Denis Hayes signed on to
coordinate Earth Day activities for Senator Nelson. While
Hayes and Nelson agreed events should take place where people
live instead of just on campuses, Hayes believed there was a
need to do more than just teach. Believing
people would perceive that nothing would happen at a
"teach-in" Hayes and his staff created a separate
organization, the Environmental Action Foundation, to promote
controversial issues that went beyond the
"teach-in."
On April 22, 1970 the first national Earth Day
took place with 42 states offering resolutions of support from
either the statehouse or governor's office. The Capitol
mall in Washington D.C. served as the primary venue and hosted
some 200,000 people, while an estimated 20 million people took
part in inaugural Earth Day activities in the more than
two-thousand communities and more than twelve thousand high
school and college campuses that took part in the festivities.
Events were mostly civil as people came together to learn more
about energy, collect trash from their streets and
neighborhoods, and in some cases protest. Notable events
included penny bus fares established for the day in
Albuquerque, New Mexico to encourage ridership; the collection
of more than a ton of garbage in Clarksburg West Virginia
which was later deposited at the courthouse steps; and a
"die-in" at Logan International Airport in Boston
where protestors deposited coffins to protest the expansion of
the airport.
 Earth Day brought together disparate groups
with common values and ethics as those protesting nuclear
power were thrust together with those trying to protect our
streams. The turn-out for the first national Earth Day event
stunned not only politicians, but also the organizers of the
event. After celebrating, protesting for, and learning about
the Earth for a day, the term "Environment" became
ingrained into mainstream culture. One measure of the
event's impact came in 1971 when a poll on national priorities
showed that 25% of the U.S. thought that protecting the
environment was an important goal a 25-times the level just
one year before.
The American government responded to concerns
about the environment by passing nearly every significant
piece of protective legislation between 1970 and 1980
including:
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Clean Air Act
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Water Quality Improvement Act
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Water Pollution and Control Act
Ammendments
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Resource Recovery Act
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Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
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Toxic Substances Control Act
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Occupational Safety and Health Act
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Federal Environmental Pesticide Control
Act
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Endangered Species Act
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Safe Drinking Water Act
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Federal Land Policy and Management Act
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Surface Mining and Reclamation Act
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National Environmental Policy Act
Today Earth Day continues to be celebrated on
the anniversary of the first national Earth Day, April
22. Major international celebrations took place in both
1990 and 2000, and events are organized annually in many
communities. Community events are organized and
supported by the Earth Day Network which is the coordinating
body for activities worldwide.
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