50th anniversary of Earth Day
It was 1970 and Gaylord Nelson, a junior senator from Wisconsin and an environmentalist, decided to use the simmering energy of the anti-war movement of the time and aim it toward a growing apprehension about air and water pollution. He recruited a Stanford educated young activist by the name of Denis Hayes who quickly dropped out of his Harvard graduate program to organize campus teach-ins on environmentalism. April 22nd was chosen to boost student participation since it fell after spring break and before finals.
The first Earth Day inspired 20 million Americans (10% of the then US population) to peacefully demonstrate against the serious impact of our unbridled industrial growth. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests, rallies, and events across the length and breadth of the country. Earth Day had the unusual bipartisan support of Republicans, Democrats, urban, rural, rich, and poor and by the end of 1970, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was constituted by President Richard Nixon. Many important laws like the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act were made soon after. These laws have protected millions of us from disease and numerous species from extinction.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It is recognized as the “largest secular observance in the world” and as a day of action by a billion people to assess and change our own behaviors and to bring global, national, and local attention to the planet. Our relationship with our planet has mostly hovered around how best we could harvest its resources to drive global economies. It is painfully clear now than a month ago that we have created unsustainable economies. We remain defenseless to new and unseen consequences of global warming. This pause has allowed us to reflect on the striking changes that a slowdown can have on our environment and wildlife. Air quality has improved in cities gasping for breath and animals are reclaiming their share of the planet. It has obliged us time to be mindful of climate action while we continue to cut back on our emissions, adopt efficient lifestyles, and elect lawmakers with a commitment to the planet. It is time to embrace our earth as a stakeholder in our lives and how we conduct our businesses. Collective action starts with one.
#EarthDay2020 #climatecrisis #vote
Reference: earthday.org; nytimes.com
Image credit: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-earth-day
