The Origins Of Earth Day
Posted April 22, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s not an official holiday and some people don’t even realize it’s happening. But Wednesday is Earth Day, the 39th time the planet has been painted green for a day. Where did it come from?
There are all kinds of stories about the origins of the eco celebration, but there appear to be several events that led up to its founding.
The first was what many see as the original environmental warning shot fired across the public’s bow. It was the publication of the book “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson in 1962, a wake-up call about a world without birds, killed off by commonly used pesticides and chemical agents.
That started a U.S. Senator and environmentalist from Wisconsin named Gaylord Nelson thinking about the planet and he began toying with solutions soon after, trying to convince then-President John F. Kennedy to consider the environment as a national issue. The administration liked the idea, but it ultimately went nowhere.
The 60s was an ugly time for those worried about the world’s eco-future. It was an era when gas was cheap and well used and smokestacks billowed out endless amounts of thick black emissions into the air. But outside of concerns over air pollution in places like L.A., which became a national joke, few took notice.
That changed during the flight of Apollo 8 in 1968, which orbited the moon but captured the iconic look of the Big Blue Marble floating in space below it. “We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth,” noted astronaut Bill Anders after coming home from the void.
See the famous Christmas Eve broadcast below:
With the 60s youth movement in full swing and young adults looking to make a difference, Nelson reintroduced his agenda, suggesting a national day devoted to the planet. He began promoting the idea in 1969 and the first Earth Day became a reality in 1970, quickly gaining momentum. Nearly 20 million took part in the first one and the event has since taken on a life of its own.
What followed was a more conscious effort about not taking that Blue Marble for granted. The Environmental Protection Agency became a reality in the U.S. that year. Greenpeace was formed in Canada in 1971. And slowly the movement grew, with even the most unconcerned at least aware of the issues surrounding the environment.
Recycling became a new word and a new effort and has now grown into an industry of its own.
There’s been lots of water (hopefully clean) under the bridge since 1970, but one question remains: why was April 22nd chosen as the date for Earth Day? There’s a lot of folklore surrounding the day, but it appears Nelson picked it simply because it seemed to have the least competition.
It was between holidays like Passover and Easter, college students – who he was depending on to take part – weren’t involved in exams, the first one took place on a weekday, so there were no Saturday or Sunday distractions, and it was still spring, the season of the Earth’s reawakening.
Earth Day has been celebrated every year since and has now expanded across the very world it’s meant to try and save.
Read Nelson’s own explanation of Earth Day’s origins here
Events in the GTA and across Ontario
