Earth Day is just around the corner, on April 22! The holiday was founded in 1970 by former Wisconsin Senator Gaylor Nelson in protest of recent environmental mayhem. Earth Day Network, a website dedicated to the day (the homepage features a by-the-second countdown), has a History Page which explains the events leading up to and following the foundation of the environmental holiday. It reads,
"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. Earth Day 1970 turned that all around."
On April 22 of that year, 20 million Americans gathered to celebrate Mother Nature and rally for a cleaner earth.The 1970s were a time of revolution and change. With the troubled state of the planet, it was obvious to some that change was necessary.
Denis Hayes, Honorary Chair of Earth Day Network, was the national coordinator of the demonstrations in auditoriums and on college campuses all over the nation on Earth Day 1970. He and his staff organized "massive coast-to-coast rallies." Protests were organized by thousands of youthful, energetic college students, determined to clean up 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 1990 focused on the need for recycling, and paved the way for the now famous Earth Summit of 1992, which took place in Rio de Janeiro and yielded an environmental treaty signed by many of the countries of the world. Earth Day 2000 was another significant day for the holiday, when Sen. Hayes was approached to sponsor another campaign. This time, protesters were pushing for the use of clean energy. A record 184 countries were involved, and the campaign reached hundreds of millions of people.
Earth Day 2009 will be one of a two-year Green Generation Campaign. As 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of Earth Day, Earth Day Network encourages more participation and enthusiasm than ever this year. Demonstrators will be pushing for the use of clean, renewable energy, as well as individual awareness of our own overconsumption. Thousands of events all over the world are in the works.
Local Earth Day Events
In Bar Harbor, Maine, at Acadia National Park, April 22 will mark the date of a "day-long festival of the earth with booths, concerts, special speakers, children’s activities and information on living more harmoniously in the world." Visit this information page if you'd like to be a part of it.
In Southern Maine, Maine College of Art (MECA) is hosting an Urban Clean-Up for Earth Day. There will also be an Eastern Trail Clean-Up event in Scarborough, ME. For a complete listing of Southern Maine events, click here.
More Earth Day 2009 Links
To read the Earth Day blog and view photo galleries, click here.
Click here to read the full history of Earth Day.
Earth Day News Article:
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