Earth Days

By the early 1960s Americans were becoming aware of the effects of pollution on the environment. Rachel Carson's 1962 bestseller "Silent Spring" raised the specter of the dangerous effects of pestisides on America's countrysides. Later in the decade, a 1969 fire on Cleveland's Cuyahoga River shed light on the problem of chemical waste disposal. Until that time, protecting the planet's natural resources was not part of the national political agenda, and the number of activists devoted to large-scale issues such as industrial pollution was minimal. Factories pumped pollutants into the air, lakes and rivers with few legal consequences. Big, gas-guzzling cars were considered a sign of prosperity. Only a small  portion of the American population was familiar with–let alone practiced–recycling.

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, was determined to convince the federal government that the planet was at risk. In 1969, Nelson, considered one of the leaders of the modern environmental movement, developed the idea for Earth Day after being inspired by the anti-Vietnam War "teach-ins" that were taking place on college campuses around the United States. According to Nelson, he envisioned a large-scale, grassroots environmental demonstration "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda."

Nelson announced the Earth Day concept at a conference in Seattle in the fall of 1969 and invited the entire nation to get involved. He later recalled, "The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes and air—and they did so with spectacular exuberance." Dennis Hayes, a young activist who had served as student president at Stanford University, was selected as Earth Day's national coordinator, and he worked with an army of student volunteers and several staff members from Nelson's Senate office to organize the project. According to Nelson, "Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself."

Since 1970, Earth Day celebrations have grown. In 1990, Earth Day went global, with 200 million people in over 140 nations participating, according to the Earth Day Network (EDN), a nonprofit organization that coordinates Earth Day activities. In 2000, Earth Day focused on clean energy and involved hundreds of millions of people in 184 countries and 5,000 environmental groups, according to EDN. Activities ranged from a traveling, talking drum chain in Gabon, Africa, to a gathering of hundreds of thousands of people at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Today, the Earth Day Network collaborates with more than 17,000 partners and organizations in 174 countries. According to EDN, more than 1 billion people are involved in Earth Day activities, making it "the largest secular civic event in the world."

Earth Day is on April 22nd every year. Earth Day is a day to remember to take care of our planet, Earth. We can take care of our planet by keeping it clean. We can keep Earth clean by following the rule of “reduce, reuse, recycle”. Reduce means use less. We can reduce our use of resources like water or gasoline. Reuse means use again, rather than throw

things away. We can reuse many things, such as jars, plastic bags, and boxes. Recycle means to make something new from something old. We can keep Earth clean by recycling materials such as aluminum, paper, and plastic. If we take these materials to a recycling center, they can be used again in a different way.

On Earth Day, we remind ourselves and everyone on Earth that we must do these things. We must do these things every day, not just on Earth Day. We must all do our part, and we can make a difference. On April 22nd, remind everyone you know that Earth

Day is every day!