Today is Earth Day – the day that marks what is considered by many to be the birth of the modern environmental movement. In 1970 cars were big, factories pumped out smoke and sludge, and air pollution was visible in many cities. Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, who was a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, witnessed the ravages of the massive 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the rising student anti-war movement going on at the time, he realized that a similar type of energy could be applied to developing public consciousness about air and water pollution. Nelson told the national media that there was going to be a national teach-in on the environment worked to assemble a national staff of 85 people to promote Earth Day events across the country.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans went outside to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for the health of our natural environment. There were thousands of colleges and universities that organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Other groups rallied around issues such as oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness areas, and the extinction of wildlife.
Out of the first Earth Day, the United States Environmental Protection was created. The Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts were created.
Since 1970, there has been some years when there were campaigns for Earth day which included 1910 when Earth Day went global and mobilized 200 million people in 141 countries to rally around the environment. Earth Day 1990 helped promote recycling efforts worldwide. In 2000, Earth day focused on global warming and used the Internet to organize activists, but also featured a talking drum chain that traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
The environmental moved has shifted from protests and conflict to legislation. I am a member of several environmental groups, and I get a few emails each week that ask me to sign a petition or send a message to my senator or representative.
My students seem to have a “take it or leave it” view about the environment. I have some students that say that they “hate recycling” and that global warming is a made up issue. They have grown up with a barrage of messages about being green, recycling, and the environment and for many of them this has made many of them feel apathetic about these issues.
Where are we now? Fracking is coming to Ohio, one of my students made a anti-recyling video, and I got 2 emails to sign petitions in my inbox.
Image Source:
csudigitalhumanities.org (Image of Cleveland in 1970 and 2012)