Newsletters: March-April 2009

« Back to Newsletter

Earth Day's Roots

Natural Times March/April 2009

By Sandy Beck

The year was 1970. Millions were dying in Southeast Asia. Two American icons had been assassinated. College students were expelled, or worse, for protesting political and social injustices.

Richard Nixon's election left many thinking that no one was listening and fewer cared. The Beatles sang, "Let It Be."

Meanwhile, since 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson had been trying to draw attention to a global environmental crisis, but Capitol Hill snickered.

Nelson wrote, "At the time, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called Ôteach-ins,' had spread to college campuses all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to me-why not organize a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment?"

The seed was planted. Environmental groups sprouted from coast to coast, recharging and refocusing student energy to organize a massive environmental teach-in about endangered species, chemical toxins and polluted waterways.

"I was not quite prepared for the overwhelming response that occurred on that day. Two thousand colleges and universities, ten thousand high schools and grade schools, and several thousand communities, in all more than twenty million Americans participated in one of the most exciting and significant grassroots efforts in the history of this country," Nelson wrote.

Thirty-nine years ago, April 22, 1970, was a warm, spring-like day in New York City. Fifth Avenue was closed to traffic. I was among 100,000 people in Central Park. Speakers urged students to use their energy and passion to protect our planet's natural resources.

Within the next three years, the federal government established the Environmental Protection Agency; Congress signed into law the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act; nearly 1,200,000 acres were designated as wilderness; and the pesticide DDT was banned.

Many regard that first Earth Day as the catalyst that jump-started the environmental movement. No longer is an environmentalist considered a revolutionary. Today's radical is the person who lives as if Earth's gifts are endless.

How strange and wonderful to finally become "mainstream."