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is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural
environment. Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an
environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. While this first Earth Day was focused on the United
States, an organization launched by Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took
it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations. Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the
Earth Day Network, and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. Numerous communities
celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. In 2009, the United
Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day.
Responding to widespread environmental degradation Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, called for anenvironmental 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.[6] Earth Day was first proposed in a prospectus
to JFK written byFred Dutton.[7] However, Nelson decided against much of Dutton's top-down approach, favoring a decentralized, grassroots effort in
Nelson had conceived the idea for Earth Day following a trip he took to Santa Barbara right after the horrific oil spill off the coast in 1969.[citation
needed]
Outraged by the devastation and Washington political inertia, Nelson proposed a national teach-in on the environment to be observed by every
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
"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
Nelson announced his idea for a nationwide teach-in day on the environment in a speech to a fledgling conservation group in Seattle on September 20,
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.[10][11][12]
"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...."[13]
Denis Hayes, a Harvard graduate student, read the NYT article and traveled to Washington to get involved.[14] He had been student body president and
a campus activist at Stanford University in McCloskey’s 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
Hayes recruited a handful of young college graduates to come to Washington, D.C. and began to plan what would become the first Earth Day.
Nelson's suggestion was difficult to implement, as the Earth Day movement proved to be autonomous with no central governing body.[18] As Senator
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.[18]
Official Earth Week logo that was used as the backdrop for the prime time CBS NewsSpecial Report with Walter Cronkite about Earth Day 1970.[19]
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 thedeterioration 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 air pollution
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
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.[20]
In the winter of 1969-1970, 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
million—by 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.[21]
Edward Furia (left) and Austan Librach (right) in a meeting in early 1970 with the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, in which they raised $30,000 to fund Earth Day activities
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 Nelson’s 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.[23]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 which, working together, organized scores of educational 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 objective—to raise public
U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie was the keynote speaker on Earth Day in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.[23][25] 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.[26] These
events are designed to encourage environmentally aware behaviors, such as recycling, using energy efficiently, and reducing or reusing disposable
items.[27]
[edit]Results of Earth Day 1970
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." [28]
Senator Nelson stated that Earth Day "worked" because of the response at the grassrootslevel. Twenty-million demonstrators and thousands of
schools and local communities participated.[29] He directly credited the first Earth Day with persuading U.S. politicians that environmental legislation had
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."[30] Environmental groups have sought to make Earth Day into a day of
Mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issuesonto 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.[32]
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.[33] 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.[33] 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.[33]
The Earth Day 20 Foundation highlighted its 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.[34] 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 theUnited States, Soviet Union and China had roped together
to climb a mountain, let alone Mt. Everest.[34] 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 previous climbing expeditions. 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.[34]
Earth Day 2000 combined the ambitious spirit of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. This was the first year
that Earth Day used theInternet as its principal organizing tool, and it proved invaluable domestically and internationally. Kelly Evans, a professional
political organizer, served as Executive Director of the 2000 campaign. The event ultimately enlisted more than 5,000 environmental groups outside the
United States, reaching hundreds of millions of people in a record 183 countries.[35] Leonardo DiCaprio was the official host for the event,[35] and about
400,000 participants stood in the cold rain during the course of the day.
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 inWashington, 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
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.
[36]
Koenig, who had been on Nelson's organizing committee in 1969, has said that the idea came to him by the coincidence of his birthday with the day
selected, April 22; "Earth Day" rhyming with "birthday," the connection seemed natural.[37][38] Other names circulated during preparations—Nelson
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
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.[39]
In observance of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Earth Day Network 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;[40] to Artist for the Earth, a
campaign the involves hundreds of arts institutions and artists worldwide to create environmental awareness. EDN mobilized 1.5 billion people in 170
The first Canadian Earth Day was held on Thursday, September 11, 1980, and was organized by Paul D. Tinari, then a graduate student in
Engineering Physics/Solar Engineering at Queen's University. Flora MacDonald, then MP for Kingston and the Islands and Canadian Secretary of
State for External Affairs, officially opened Earth Day Week on September 6, 1980 with a ceremonial tree planting and encouraged MPs and MPPs
across the country to declare a cross-Canada annual Earth Day. The principal activities taking place on the first Earth Day included educational
lectures given by experts in various environmental fields, garbage and litter pick-up by students along city roads and highways as well as tree plantings
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 Canada's "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.
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.
John McConnell in front of his home in Denver, Colorado with the Earth Flag he designed.
John McConnell[43] first introduced the idea of a global holiday called "Earth Day" at the 1969UNESCO 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 beautifulSpaceship Earth as it continues to spin and circle in frigid space with its
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."[45]
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.[46] 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.[47]
[edit]April 22 observances
[edit]Growing eco-activism before Earth Day 1970
In 1968, Morton Hilbert and the U.S. Public Health Service organized the Human Ecology Symposium, an environmental conference for students to
hear from scientists about the effects of environmental degradation on human health.[48] This was the beginning of Earth Day. For the next two years,
Hilbert and students worked to plan the first Earth Day.[49] In the spring of 1970—along with a federal proclamation from U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson—the
Project Survival, an early environmentalism-awareness education event, was held atNorthwestern 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
The 1960s had been a very dynamic period for ecology in the US. Pre-1960 grassroots activism against DDT in Nassau County, New York, had
[edit]Significance of April 22
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 19–25 was the best bet as it did not fall during exams or spring breaks.[51] Moreover, it 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 events—so he chose Wednesday, April 22.
Unbeknownst to Nelson,[52] April 22, 1970, was coincidentally the 100th anniversary of the birth 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."[53] 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.[54] The idea that the date was chosen to celebrate Lenin's centenary still persists in some quarters[55][56]although Lenin was never noted
as an environmentalist.
In Nebraska, Arbor Day happens to fall on April 22, that being the birthday of Julius Sterling Morton, the founder of the national tree-planting holiday
that started in 1872 and which has been a legal holiday in the state since 1885. 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."[57] It has since been largely eclipsed by the more widely observed Earth Day, except in Nebraska, where it originated.
[edit]Earth Day ecology flag
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 yellowtheta.
Later flags used either a theta or the peace symbol. Theta would later become associated with Earth Day.
There are many songs that are performed on Earth Day, that generally fall into two categories. Popular songs by contemporary artists not specific to
Earth Day that are under copyright, or new lyrics adapted to children's songs. Creating new lyrics that are easily translated into multiple languages, and
set to a universally recognized melody in the public domain, does not appear to have been attempted.
The "Earth Day Anthem" below satisfies these requirements for a universal song associated with Earth Day. Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"
melody is already the official anthem of the European Union (in that case purely instrumental without lyrics), the melody is widely recognized and easily
performed, in the public domain, and originally composed for voice. Lyrics for the Earth Day Anthem set to "Ode to Joy" are provided
below:
Joyful joyful we adore our Earth in all its wonderment
[edit]Criticism
Writer Alex Steffen, proponent of bright green environmentalism, charges that Earth Day has come to symbolize the marginalization of environmental
A May 5, 2009 editorial in The Washington Times contrasted Arbor Day with 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.[59]
The questionable nature of companies and products involved in Earth Day related promotions has led to accusations of greenwashing.[60]
Earth Day 2010 coincided with the World People's Conference on Climate Change, held inCochabamba, Bolivia, and with the International Year of
Biodiversity.
Billion Acts of Green (Beta) – Official Earth Day Network's "Billion Acts of Green" website for students and young adults