Earth Day

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rob Cobb's 1969 Ecology Flag with theta

Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's
environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in
held on April 22, 1970.[1] Earth Day is celebrated in spring in the Northern Hemisphere and
autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Many communities celebrate Earth Week, an entire
week of activities focused on environmental issues. The first Earth Week originated in
Philadelphia in 1970 (starting April 16 and culminating on Earth Day, April 22.)[2] Earth
Day Network, a group that wishes to become the coordinator of Earth Day globally, asserts
that Earth Day is now observed on April 22 on virtually every country on Earth.[3] World
Environment Day, celebrated on June 5 in a different nation every year, is the principal
United Nations environmental observance.[4]

Contents
[hide]

1 The first Earth Day

o 1.1 Earth Day 1970 in Philadelphia

o 1.2 Earthday 1970 in New York City

o 1.3 Earth Day 20 and Earth Day 1990

o 1.4 The Earth Day Name

o 1.5 Subsequent Earth Day Events

2 Earth Day Network

3 Earth Day Canada

4 History of the Equinox Earth Day

5 22 April observances

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 o 5.1 Growing eco-activism before Earth Day 1970

o 5.2 Earth Day 1970

o 5.3 Results of Earth Day 1970

o 5.4 Significance of 22 April

o 5.5 Earth Day ecology flag

o 5.6 Criticism

o 5.7 Earth Day 2010

6 See also

7 References

8 External links

The first Earth Day

U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin announced his idea for a nationwide teach-in
day on the environment in a speech to a fledgling conservation group in Seattle on 20
September 1969, and then again six days later in Atlantic City to a meeting of the United
Auto Workers. Senator Nelson hoped that a grassroots outcry about environmental issues
might prove to Washington, D.C. just how distressed Americans were in every
constituency. Senator Nelson invited Republican Representative Paul N Pete McCloskey
to serve as his co-chair and they incorporated a new non-profit organization, environmental
Teach-In, Inc., to stimulate participation across the country. Both continued to give
speeches plugging the event.[5][6][7]

On September 29, 1969, in a front-page New York Times article, Gladwin Hill wrote:

"Rising concern about the "environmental crisis" is sweeping the nation's campuses with an
intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a
national day of observance of environmental problems, analogous to the mass
demonstrations on Vietnam, is being planned for next spring, when a nationwide
environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is
planned...[8][9] Denis Hayes, a Harvard graduate student, read the NYT article and traveled
to Washington to get involved.[10] He had been student body president and a campus activist

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at Stanford University in McCloskeys district and where Teach-In board member Paul
Ehrlich was a professor. He thought he might be asked to organize Boston. Instead, Nelson
eventually asked Hayes to drop out of Harvard, assemble a staff, and direct the effort to
organize the United States.[11][12] Hayes would go on to become a widely recognized
environmental advocate.

Nelson's suggestion was difficult to implement, as the Earth Day movement proved to be
autonomous with no central governing body.[1] As Senator Nelson attests, it simply grew on
its own:

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. [1]

Official Earth Week logo that was used as the backdrop for the prime time CBS News
Special Report with Walter Cronkite about Earth Day 1970.[13]

On April 22 1970, Earth Day marked the beginning of the modern environmental
movement. Approximately 20 million Americans participated. 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, Freeway and expressway revolts, the loss of wilderness, and the
extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Media coverage of the first Earth Day included a One-Hour Prime-time CBS News Special
Report called "Earth Day: A Question of Survival," with correspondents reporting from a
dozen major cities across the country, and narrated by Walter Cronkite (whose backdrop
was the Earth Week Committee of Philadelphia's logo).[13] The largest segment of the
special report (20 minutes of the 60-minute program) focused on Earth Day in Philadelphia.

Earth Day 1970 in Philadelphia

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Earth Week Committee Project Director, Edward Furia (left), and Chairman, Austan
Librach (right) during a meeting in early 1970 with the Philadelphia Chamber of
Commerce, in which they raised $30,000 (with commitments for additional funds) to fund
Earth Week activities and expose the city's worst polluters.[14]

U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie, author of the historic Clean Air Act of 1970, speaking to an
estimated 40-60,000 at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia on Earth Day, 1970

Earth Day 1970 in Philadelphia gave birth to Earth Week, April 16-22. It was created by a
committee of students (mostly from University of Pennsylvania), professionals, leaders of
grass roots organizations and businessmen concerned about the environment and inspired
by Senator Gaylord Nelsons call for a national environmental teach-in. The Earth Week
Committee of Philadelphia concluded that devoting only one day to the environment would
not provide enough time and space to paint a comprehensive picture of the environmental
issues confronting mankind.[15] While all of their activities would build toward a climactic
Earth Day celebration on April 22, there would also be an entire week of events in the week
preceding.

Austan Librach, a regional planning graduate student, assumed the role of Committee
Chairman and hired Edward Furia, who had just received his City Planning and Law
Degrees from University of Pennsylvania, to be Project Director. The core group from Penn
was joined in 1970 by students from other area colleges, as well as from other community,
church and business groups which, working together, organized scores of educational

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activities, scientific symposia and major mass media events in the Delaware Valley Region
in and around Philadelphia. The Earth Week Committee of 33 members settled on a
common objectiveto raise public awareness of environmental problems and their
potential solutions.[15]

U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie, author of the historic Clean Air Act of 1970 and sponsor of
pending landmark water pollution legislation, was the keynote speaker on Earth Day in
Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.[2] Other notable attendees included consumer protection
activist and presidential candidate Ralph Nader; Landscape Architect Ian McHarg; Nobel
prize-winning Harvard Biochemist, George Wald; U.S. Senate Minority Leader, Hugh
Scott; and poet, Allen Ginsberg. Forty years later, the Earth Week Committee decided to
make rare photos, video and other previously unpublished information about the history of
Earth Week 1970 available to the public at EarthWeek.us.

Many cities now extend the observance of Earth Day events to an entire week, usually
starting on April 16 and ending on Earth Day, April 22.[16] These events are designed to
encourage environmentally-aware behaviors, such as recycling, using energy efficiently,
and reducing or reusing disposable items.[17]

Earthday 1970 in New York City

On September 29, 1969, in a long, front-page New York Times article, Gladwin Hill wrote:

"Rising concern about the "environmental crisis" is sweeping the nation's campuses with an
intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national
day of observance of environmental problems, analogous to the mass demonstrations on Vietnam, is
being planned for next spring, when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the
office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...."[9]

In the winter of 1969 a group of students met at Columbia University to hear Denis Hayes
talk about his plans for Earth Day. Among the group were Fred Kent, Pete Grannis, and
Kristin and William Hubbard. This New York group agreed to head up the New York City
part of the national movement. Fred Kent took the lead in renting an office and recruiting
volunteers. "The big break came when Mayor Lindsay agreed to shut down 5th Avenue for
the event. A giant cheer went up in the office on that day," according to Kristin Hubbard
(now Kristin Alexandre). 'From that time on we used Mayor Lindsay's offices and even his
staff. I was Speaker Coordinator but had tremendous help from Lindsay staffer Judith
Crichton."

In addition to shutting down Fifth Avenue, Mayor Lindsay made Central Park available for
Earth Day. The crowd was estimated as more than one millionby far the largest in the
nation. Since New York was also the home of NBC, CBS, ABC, the New York Times,
Time, and Newsweek, it provided the best possible anchor for national coverage from their
reporters all over the country.[18]

Earth Day 20 and Earth Day 1990

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Mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental
issues onto the world stage, Earth Day activities in 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. Unlike the first Earth Day in 1970, this 20th Anniversary was waged with
stronger marketing tools, greater access to television and radio, and multimillion-dollar
budgets.[19]

The official logo of the Earth Day 20 International Peace Climb.

Two separate groups formed to sponsor Earth Day events in 1990: The Earth Day 20
Foundation, assembled by Edward Furia (Project Director of Earth Week in 1970), and
Earth Day 1990, assembled by Denis Hayes (National Coordinator for Earth Day 1970).
Senator Gaylord Nelson, the original founder of Earth Day, was honorary chairman for both
groups. The two did not combine forces over disagreements about leadership of combined
organization and incompatible structures and strategies.[20] Among the disagreements, key
Earth Day 20 Foundation organizers were critical of Earth Day 1990 for including on their
board Hewlett Packard, a company that at the time was the second-biggest emitter of
chlorofluorocarbons in Silicon Valley and refused to switch to alternative solvents.[20] In
terms of marketing, Earth Day 20 had a grassroots approach to organizing and relied largely
on locally based groups like the National Toxics Campaign, a Boston-based coalition of
1,000 local groups concerned with industrial pollution. Earth Day 1990 Employed
strategies including focus group testing, direct mail fund raising, and email marketing.[21]

The Earth Day 20 Foundation highlighted it's April 22 activities in George, Washington,
near the Columbia River with a live satellite phone call with members of the historic Earth
Day 20 International Peace Climb who called from their base camp on Mount Everest to
pledge their support for world peace and attention to environmental issues.[22] The Earth
Day 20 International Peace Climb was led by Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit
Mt. Everest (many years earlier), and marked the first time in history that mountaineers
from the United States, Soviet Union and China had roped together to climb a mountain, let
alone Mt. Everest.[22] The group also collected over two tons of trash (transported down the
mountain by support groups along the way) that was left behind on Mount Everest from

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previous climbing expeditions. The Earth Day 20 event also featured two live satellite
phone calls from President George H.W. Bush, one to Whitaker on Everest and the other to
Furia at Columbia Gorge. The elder President Bush had a few months earlier also become
the first president to declare Earth Day a national holiday which he did in January, 1990.[22]
Among those who were invited to the 20th Earth Day Proclamation signing ceremony in
The White House were Edward Furia and Jim Whitaker from Earth Day 20 and Denis
Hayes from Earth Day 1990. The master of ceremonies for the Columbia Gorge event was
the TV star, John Ratzenberger, from "Cheers", and the headlining musician was the
"Father of Rock and Roll," Chuck Berry.[22]

The Earth Day Name

According to Senator Nelson, the moniker "Earth Day" was "an obvious and logical name"
suggested by "a number of people" in the fall of 1969, including, he writes, both "a friend
of mine who had been in the field of public relations" and "a New York advertising
executive," Julian Koenig.[23] Koenig was on Nelson's organizing committee in 1969. April
22 also happened to be Koenig's birthday, and as "Earth Day" rhymed with "birthday," the
idea came to him easily, he said.[24][25] Other names circulated during preparationsNelson
himself continued to call it the National Environment Teach-In, but press coverage of the
event was "practically unanimous" in its use of "Earth Day," so the name stuck.[23]

Subsequent Earth Day Events

To turn Earth Day into a sustainable annual event rather than one that occurred every 10
years, Senator Nelson and Bruce Anderson, New Hampshire's lead organizer in 1990,
formed Earth Day USA. Building on the momentum created by thousands of community
organizers around the world, Earth Day USA coordinated the next five Earth Day
celebrations through 1995, including the launch of EarthDay.org. Following the 25th
Anniversary in 1995, the coordination baton was handed to Earth Day Network.

As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time
focusing on global warming and pushing for clean energy. The April 22 Earth Day in 2000
combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots
activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link activists
around the world. By the time April 22 came around, 5,000 environmental groups around
the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184
countries. Events varied: A talking drum chain traveled from village to village in Gabon,
Africa, for example, while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall
in Washington, D.C., USA.

Earth Day 2007 was one of the largest Earth Days to date, with an estimated billion people
participating in the activities in thousands of places like Kiev, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela;
Tuvalu; Manila, Philippines; Togo; Madrid, Spain; London; and New York.[citation needed]

Earth Day Network

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Denis Hayes

Earth Day Network was founded by Denis Hayes and the organizers of the first Earth Day
in 1970 and by other national organizers, including Pam Lippe, to promote environmental
activism and year-round progressive action, domestically and internationally. Earth Day
Network members include NGOs, quasi-governmental agencies, local governments,
activists, and others. Earth Day Network members focus on environmental education; local,
national, and global policies; public environmental campaigns; and organizing national and
local earth day events to promote activism and environmental protection. The international
network reaches over 19,000 organizations in 192 countries, while the domestic program
engages 10,000 groups and over 100,000 educators coordinating millions of community
development and environmental-protection activities throughout the year.[26]

In observance of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, EDN created multiple global
initiatives, ranging from a Global Day of Conversation with mayors worldwide, focusing
on bringing green investment and building a green economy; Athletes for the Earth
Campaign that brings Olympic, professional, and every day athletes' voices to help promote
a solution to climate change; a Billion Acts of Green Campaign which will aggregate the
millions of environmental service commitments that individuals and organizations around
the world make each year;[27] to Artist for the Earth, a campaign the involves hundreds of
arts institutions and artists worldwide to create environmental awareness. EDN expects at
least 1.5 billion people to participate in these global events and programs.

EDN has helped create Earth Day organizations worldwide.

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Earth Day Canada

Earth Day Canada logo

Earth Day Canada (EDC), a national environmental charity founded in 1990, provides
Canadians with the practical knowledge and tools they need to lessen their impact on the
environment. In 2004, it was recognized as the top environmental education organization in
North America, for its innovative year-round programs and educational resources, by the
Washington-based North American Association for Environmental Education, the world's
largest association of environmental educators. In 2008, it was chosen as Canadas
Outstanding Non-profit Organization by the Canadian Network for Environmental
Education and Communication. EDC regularly partners with thousands of organizations in
all parts of Canada. EDC hosts a suite of six environmental programs: Ecokids,
EcoMentors, EcoAction Teams, Community Environment Fund, Hometown Heroes and the
Toyota Earth Day Scholarship Program.

History of the Equinox Earth Day

The equinoctial Earth Day is celebrated on the March equinox (around March 20) to mark
the precise moment of astronomical mid-spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and of
astronomical mid-autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. An equinox in astronomy is that
moment in time (not a whole day) when the center of the Sun can be observed to be directly
"above" the Earth's equator, occurring around March 20 and September 23 each year. In
most cultures, the equinoxes and solstices are considered to start or separate the seasons.

Unofficial Earth Day flag, by John McConnell: the Blue Marble on a blue field.

9
John McConnell in front of his home in Denver, Colorado with the Earth Flag he designed.

John McConnell[28] first introduced the idea of a global holiday called "Earth Day" at the
1969 UNESCO Conference on the Environment. The first Earth Day proclamation was
issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto on March 21, 1970. Celebrations were held
in various cities, such as San Francisco and in Davis, California with a multi-day street
party. UN Secretary-General U Thant supported McConnell's global initiative to celebrate
this annual event; and on February 26, 1971, he signed a proclamation to that effect, saying:

May there be only peaceful and cheerful Earth Days to come for our beautiful Spaceship Earth as it
continues to spin and circle in frigid space with its warm and fragile cargo of animate life. [29]

United Nations secretary-general Kurt Waldheim observed Earth Day with similar
ceremonies on the March equinox in 1972, and the United Nations Earth Day ceremony has
continued each year since on the day of the March equinox (the United Nations also works
with organizers of the April 22 global event). Margaret Mead added her support for the
equinox Earth Day, and in 1978 declared:

"EARTH DAY is the first holy day which transcends all national borders, yet preserves all
geographical integrities, spans mountains and oceans and time belts, and yet brings people all over
the world into one resonating accord, is devoted to the preservation of the harmony in nature and
yet draws upon the triumphs of technology, the measurement of time, and instantaneous
communication through space.
EARTH DAY draws on astronomical phenomena in a new way which is also the most ancient
way by using the vernal Equinox, the time when the Sun crosses the equator making the length of
night and day equal in all parts of the Earth. To this point in the annual calendar, EARTH DAY
attaches no local or divisive set of symbols, no statement of the truth or superiority of one way of
life over another. But the selection of the March Equinox makes planetary observance of a shared
event possible, and a flag which shows the Earth, as seen from space, appropriate." [30]

At the moment of the equinox, it is traditional to observe Earth Day by ringing the Japanese
Peace Bell, which was donated by Japan to the United Nations.[31] Over the years,
celebrations have occurred in various places worldwide at the same time as the UN
celebration. On March 20, 2008, in addition to the ceremony at the United Nations,
ceremonies were held in New Zealand, and bells were sounded in California, Vienna, Paris,
Lithuania, Tokyo and many other locations. The equinox Earth Day at the UN is organized
by the Earth Society Foundation.[32]

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22 April observances
Growing eco-activism before Earth Day 1970

Project Survival, an early environmentalism-awareness education event, was held at

Northwestern University on January 23, 1970. This was the first of several events held at
university campuses across the United States in the lead-up to the first Earth Day. Also,
Ralph Nader began talking about the importance of ecology in 1970.

The 1960s had been a very dynamic period for ecology in the US, in both theory and
practice. It was in the mid-1960s that Congress passed the sweeping Wilderness Act, and
Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas asked, "Who speaks for the trees?" Pre-1960
grassroots activism against DDT in Nassau County, New York, had inspired Rachel Carson
to write her bestseller, Silent Spring (1962).

Earth Day 1970

Gaylord Nelson

Responding to widespread environmental degradation, Gaylord Nelson, a United States

Senator from Wisconsin, called for an environmental teach-in, or Earth Day, to be held on
April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated that year, and Earth Day is now
observed on April 22 each year by more than 500 million people and several national
governments in 175 countries.[citation needed]

Senator Nelson, an environmental activist, took a leading role in organizing the celebration,
hoping to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda. He modeled
it on the highly effective Vietnam War teach-ins of the time.[33] The proposal for Earth Day
was first proposed in a prospectus to JFK written by Fred Dutton.[34] However, Nelson
decided against much of Dutton's top-down approach, favoring a decentralized, grassroots
effort in which each community shaped their action around local concerns.

11
Earth Day was conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson after a trip he took to Santa Barbara
right after the horrific oil spill off the coast in 1969. Outraged by the devastation and
Washington political inertia, Nelson proposed a national teach-in on the environment to be
observed by every university campus in the U.S.[35]

I am convinced that all we need to do to bring an overwhelming insistence of the new generation
that we stem the tide of environmental disaster is to present the facts clearly and dramatically. To
marshal such an effort, I am proposing a national teach-in on the crisis of the environment to be
held next spring on every university campus across the Nation. The crisis is so imminent, in my
opinion, that every university should set aside 1 day in the school year-the same day across the
Nation-for the teach-in.[35]

Senator Nelson selected Denis Hayes, a Harvard University graduate student, as the
national coordinator of activities in a non-profit group, Environmental Teach-In, Inc. Hayes
said he wanted Earth Day to "bypass the traditional political process."[36] Garrett DuBell
compiled and edited The Environmental Handbook the first guide to the Environmental
Teach-In. Its symbol was a green Greek letter theta, "the dead theta".

One of the organizers of the event said:

"We're going to be focusing an enormous amount of public interest on a whole, wide range of
environmental events, hopefully in such a manner that it's going to be drawing the interrelationships
between them and, getting people to look at the whole thing as one consistent kind of picture, a
picture of a society that's rapidly going in the wrong direction that has to be stopped and turned
around.

"It's going to be an enormous affair, I think. We have groups operating now in about 12,000 high
schools, 2,000 colleges and universities and a couple of thousand other community groups. It's safe
to say I think that the number of people who will be participating in one way or another is going to
be ranging in the millions."[37]

The nationwide event included opposition to the Vietnam War on the agenda, but this was
thought to detract from the environmental message. Pete Seeger was a keynote speaker and
performer at the event held in Washington DC. Paul Newman and Ali McGraw attended the
event held in New York City.[38]

The most notable organization to protest the event was the Daughters of the American
Revolution.

Results of Earth Day 1970

12
Earth Day 2007 at San Diego City College in San Diego, California.

Earth Day proved popular in the United States and around the world. The first Earth Day
had participants and celebrants in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten
thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United
States. More importantly, it "brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for
peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform."[39]

Senator Nelson stated that Earth Day "worked" because of the response at the grassroots
level. Twenty-million demonstrators and thousands of schools and local communities
participated.[40] He directly credited the first Earth Day with persuading U.S. politicians that
environmental legislation had a substantial, lasting constituency. Many important laws were
passed by Congress in the wake of the 1970 Earth Day, including the Clean Air Act, wild
lands and the ocean, and the creation of the United States Environmental Protection
Agency.[41]

It is now observed in 175 countries, and coordinated by the nonprofit Earth Day Network,
according to whom Earth Day is now "the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated
by more than a half billion people every year."[42] Environmental groups have sought to
make Earth Day into a day of action which changes human behavior and provokes policy
changes.[41]

Significance of 22 April

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You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is
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Senator Nelson chose the date in order to maximize participation on college

campuses for what he conceived as an "environmental teach-in." He determined the
week of April 1925 was the best bet; it did not fall during exams or spring breaks,
did not conflict with religious holidays such as Easter or Passover, and was late
enough in spring to have decent weather. More students were likely to be in class,
and there would be less competition with other mid-week eventsso he chose
Wednesday, April 22. Asked whether he had purposely chosen Lenin's 100th
birthday, Nelson explained that with only 365 days a year and 3.7 billion people in
the world, every day was the birthday of ten million living people. On any given

13
 day, a lot of both good and bad people were born, he said. "A person many
consider the worlds first environmentalist, Saint Francis of Assisi, was born on
April 22."[43]

April 21 was the birthday of John Muir, who founded the Sierra Club. This was not
lost on organizers who thought April 22 was Muir's birthday.[citation needed]

April 22, 1970 was the 100th birthday of Vladimir Lenin. Time reported that some
suspected the date was not a coincidence, but a clue that the event was "a
Communist trick," and quoted a member of the Daughters of the American
Revolution as saying, "Subversive elements plan to make American children live in
an environment that is good for them."[36] J. Edgar Hoover, director of the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, may have found the Lenin connection intriguing; it
was alleged the FBI conducted surveillance at the 1970 demonstrations.[44] The idea
that the date was chosen to celebrate Lenin's centenary still persists in some
quarters,[45][46] although Lenin was never noted as an environmentalist.

April 22 is also the birthday of Julius Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day, a
national tree-planting holiday started in 1872. Arbor Day became a legal holiday in
Nebraska in 1885, to be permanently observed on April 22. According to the
National Arbor Day Foundation "the most common day for the state observances is
the last Friday in April . . . but a number of state Arbor Days are at other times in
order to coincide with the best tree-planting weather."[47] It has since been largely
eclipsed by the more widely-observed Earth Day, except in Nebraska, where it
originated.

April 22 is also the birthday of actor Eddie Albert (of Green Acres fame), who was a
staunch environmentalist and spokesperson for The National Arbor Day Foundation.
Albert spoke at the inaugural Earth Day ceremony in 1970.

22 April continues to be the date of the Annual Iowahawk "Virtual Cruise", attended
by millions worldwide.

Earth Day ecology flag

Ron Cobb's 1969 Ecology Symbol

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According to Flags of the World, the Ecology Flag was created by cartoonist Ron Cobb,
published on November 7, 1969, in the Los Angeles Free Press, then placed in the public
domain. The symbol is a combination of the letters "E" and "O" taken from the words
"Environment" and "Organism," respectively. The flag is patterned after the United States'
flag, with thirteen alternating-green-and-whites stripes. Its canton is green with a yellow
theta. Later flags used either a theta, because of its historic use as a warning symbol[48]
Petrus de Dacia in a document from 1291 relates the idea that theta was used to brand
criminals as empty ciphers, and the branding rod was affixed to the crossbar spanning the
circle,[49] or the peace symbol. Theta would later become associated with Earth Day.

As a 16-year-old high school student, Betsy Vogel, an environmental advocate and social
activist who enjoyed sewing costumes and unique gifts, made a 4 x 6-foot (1.8 m) green-
and-white "theta" ecology flag to commemorate the first Earth Day. Initially denied
permission to fly the flag at C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, Vogel sought
and received authorization from the Louisiana State Legislature and Louisiana Governor
John McKeithen in time to display the flag for Earth Day.[citation needed]

Criticism

Writer Alex Steffen, proponent of bright green environmentalism, charges that Earth Day
has come to symbolize the marginalization of environmental protection, and the celebration
itself has outlived its usefulness.[50]

A 5 May 2009 editorial in The Washington Times compared Arbor Day to Earth Day,
claiming that Arbor Day was a happy, non-political celebration of trees, whereas Earth Day
was a pessimistic, political ideology that portrayed humans in a negative light.[51]

Earth Day 2010

Earth Day 2010 will coincide with the World People's Conference on Climate Change, to
be held in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and with the International Year of Biodiversity

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1. ^ a b c How the First Earth Day Came About by Senator Gaylord Nelson

2. ^ a b 1970 Earth Week Committee of Philadelphia Official Website

3. ^ "Earth Day Network - Join the Earth Day 2010 Community". Earthday.net.
http://www.earthday.net/. Retrieved 2010-04-22.

4. ^ "World Environment Day 2010". Unep.org. http://www.unep.org/wed/2010/english/.

Retrieved 2010-04-22.

5. ^ "Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day | a diverse coalition of supporters". Nelsonearthday.net.

2010-04-18. http://www.nelsonearthday.net/earth-day/coalition.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-22.

6. ^ "Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day | the UAW steps up for Earth Day". Nelsonearthday.net.
http://nelsonearthday.net/collection/coalition-uawflyer.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-22.

7. ^ "Pete McCloskey wants Earth Day to change the world - again (April 16, 2003)".
Almanacnews.com. http://www.almanacnews.com/morgue/2003/2003_04_16.pete.html.
Retrieved 2010-04-22.

8. ^ "Earth Day 2010: History of Earth Day". Earthday.envirolink.org.

http://earthday.envirolink.org/history.html. Retrieved 2010-04-22.

9. ^ a b 'Environmental Crisis' May Eclipse Vietnam as College Issue, New York Times,
11/30/1969

10. ^ "U.S. Mayor Article | Earth Day 1970 Defining Moments (April 27, 2009)".
Usmayors.org.
http://www.usmayors.org/usmayornewspaper/documents/04_27_09/pg6_earth_day_1970.as
p. Retrieved 2010-04-22.

11. ^ "Denis Hayes, Earth Day Network". Grist. http://www.grist.org/article/hayes-

earthday/PALL. Retrieved 2010-04-22.

12. ^ "Portraits of the green generation'". Dailyme.com.

http://dailyme.com/story/2010041800000473/portraits-green-generation.html. Retrieved
2010-04-22.

13. ^ a b "1970 CBS News Special Report with Walter Cronkite: Earth Day - A Question of
Survival". Youtube.com. 2010-04-11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbwC281uzUs.
Retrieved 2010-04-22.

14. ^ 1970 Earth Week Committee of Philadelphia Official Website

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15. ^ a b 1970 Earth Week Committee of Philadelphia Official Website

16. ^ "City Celebrates Earth Week". City of Chicago. 2007.

http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalContentItemAction.do?
topChannelName=HomePage&contentOID=536937837&Failed_Reason=Invalid+timestam
p,
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51. ^ Arbor vs. Earth Day, The Washington Times, 5 May 2009

THE OFFICIAL EARTH DAY 2010

CAMPAIGN - April 22, 2010

Forty years after the first Earth Day, the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate
change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity an
unprecedented opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and
for the future.

Earth Day 2010 can be a turning point to advance climate policy, energy efficiency,
renewable energy and green jobs. Earth Day Network is galvanizing millions who make
personal commitments to sustainability. Earth Day 2010 is a pivotal opportunity for
individuals, corporations and governments to join together and create a global green
economy. Join the more than one billion people in 190 countries that are taking action for
Earth Day.

Can you answer these questions?

Why is earth day important to earth?

What is Earth Day?

What is Earth Day and what do you do?

What day is Earth Day?

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Can you answer these questions?

Why is earth day important to earth?

Why is earth day important to the earth?

Earth Day is very important to Earth because it teaches us to "Reduse, Reuse,
and Recycle!" If we don't take care of our Earth, then Earth wouldn't exist!

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day is a name used by two different observances held annually in the
(northern hemisphere) spring, both intended to inspire awareness of and
appreciation for the Earth's environment. Earth...

What is Earth Day and what do you do?

common sense would tell you it is a day when you help around your
community and pick up trash ...... duh earth day ! ! !

What day is Earth Day?

Earth Day - April 22Earth Day is a name used for two different observances,
both held annually during spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and during
autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. These are...

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