History of Earth Day

1
History of Earth Day

• The Beginning of a Movement

2
Quick Facts

• Founded by John McConnell in 1969
• Two days April 22 March Equinox Day
• April Anniversary of birth of modern
  environmental movement
• Earth Day 2007 one of the largest to date
• Estimated 1 billion people
• Reach over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries
• More than half a billion people participate each
  year
• Largest secular holiday in the world

3
April 22 Earth Day

• September 1969 conference in Seattle Washington
• U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson
• Announced in Spring 1970, nationwide grassroots
  demonstration
• The setting 1970
• Air pollution accepted as smell of prosperity
• The word environment hardly known
• 20 million Americans participated
• Gave a boost to recycling efforts worldwide

4
Growing Eco-activism

• 1960s dynamic period
• Mid 1960s Congress passed Wilderness Act
• Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in 1962
• Gaylord Nelson Environmental Activist
• Modeled ED on Vietnam War protests
• Thought to detract from the environmental message
• Selected Denis Hayes, Harvard University, to be
  the national coordinator

5
The Results of Earth Day

• 1st Earth Day persuaded U.S. politicians that
  environmental legislation was important
• Important laws were passed after 1970
• Clean Air Act
• Laws to protect drinking water, wild lands,
  oceans
• Creation of United States Environmental
  Protection Agency
• Hopes to change human behavior and provoke policy
  changes
• Been extended to Earth Week