The History of Earth Day

Ok everyone, let’s look at our calendar for April 22nd; see anything? Most calendars have Earth Day listed as a holiday just like Christmas, New Year’s Day, and Independence Day. Here’s the funny thing, most people know the background behind those holidays, but probably not the history about Earth Day.

Back in 1963, Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin began worrying about the state of our environment. He noticed that no one in the Government was looking at environmental issues and they were allowing large companies to fill our air with smoke and our water with pesticides. He decided to bring Environmental Issues out into the open.

In 1969, Senator Nelson started planning for a special day the following spring. This day would be a day to educate the public about the things that needed changing in our world. He wanted to use this day as a way to force environmental issues into the forefront of the national agenda.

The very first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. More than 20 million people took to the streets to demonstrate for a healthy and sustainable environment. These people from all over the country made promises to help the environment.

In 1990, Earth Day went global. Earth Day mobilized more than 200 million people over 141 countries and led to the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This particular Earth Day led to a huge recycling boost all over the world.

Earth Day isn’t just about planting trees and making promises. Earth Day is about awareness. It is about becoming aware of the issues plaguing our environment and making the conscious effort to be part of the solution. That is the best way to celebrate Earth Day. So many different laws and regulations have been passed to protect the environment and we will be covering a lot of those laws and regulations in further articles, so STAY TUNED.