THE HISTORY OF EARTH DAY .....................
Each year , Earth Day — April 22 — marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970 . The height of counterculture in the United States , 1970 brought the death of Jami Hendrix , the last Beatles album , and Simon & Garfunkel ‘ s ― Bridge Over Troubled Water .‖ War raged in Vietnam and students nationwide overwhelmingly opposed it . At the time , 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 . Although mainstream America largely 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 , selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries , and beginning to raise public awareness and concern for living organisms , the environment and links between pollution and public health . Earth Day 1970 gave voice to that emerging consciousness , channelling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns on the front page . The Idea The idea for a national day to focus on the environment came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson , then a U . S . Senator from Wisconsin , after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara , California . Inspired by the student anti-war movement , he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution , it would force 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 from Harvard as national coordinator . Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land . April 22 , falling between Spring Break and Final Exams , was selected as the date . On April 22,1970 , 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 slickers and farmers , tycoons and labour leaders . By the end of that year , the first Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air , Clean Water , and Endangered Species Acts . ― It was a gamble ,‖ Gaylord recalled , ― but it worked .‖ 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 environmental issues onto 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 . It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom ( 1995 )— the highest honour given to civilians in the United States — for his role as Earth Day founder .