The history of Earth Day

Earth Day was founded in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, but only after several years in the planning. Frustrated that the environment was a “non-issue” in politics in the 1960s, Senator Nelson went to Washington, D.C., and presented an idea that the  Attorney General Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy both liked. What ensued from that meeting was a “five-day, 11-state conservation tour in September 1963″ by President Kennedy. (The tour took place a mere two months before the president was assassinated.)

After several years speaking throughout the country on the environmental degradation Nelson saw all around him and spurred on by “teach-ins” and the anti-Vietnam war protests taking place across the U.S., the senator finally hit upon an idea -- create “a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment.”




With “neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators,” Nelson, his senatorial staff, and dozens of volunteers, including thousands of schools and local communities, brought together an American public just waiting for a platform to voice their concerns about the environment. Nelson said, “That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.”

After 40 years, Earth Day has organized itself into 77,862,183 people having pledged to do their part to help planet earth.

This year, Earth Day 2011 is being organized around the theme of A Billion Acts of Green, which encourages individuals, corporations, and non-corporate organizations to “live and act sustainably.”
There are all kinds of ways to participate in Earth Day, from local events you can host or attend to things to do with the whole family to easy ways to green your Earth Day.

--Jocelyn Broyles
Headline image from EarthDay.org. All information and quotes from Senator Gaylor Nelson in “How the First Earth Day Came About” published on Earthday.Envirolink.org.