April 22  2025 , marks the 50^th anniversary of the birth of the EARTHDAY environmental movement .

The 70’s, marked a period where Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles. Industry belched out smoke and grime with legal impunity and little fear of any public protest or opprobrium. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the price for prosperity.

However, the stage was set for change with the publication of Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962. The book represented a watershed moment, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries as it raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the inextricable links between pollution and public health.

Senator Gaylord Nelson, Wisconsin, had long been concerned about the deteriorating environment in the United States. In January 1969, he and many others witnessed the environmental disaster of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Emboldened by the student anti-war movement, Senator Nelson used the momentum of the student anti-war protests to heighten the  public consciousness about air and water pollution. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a teach-in on college campuses to the national media.

Senator Gaylord Nelson recruited Denis Hayes, a young activist, to organize the campus teach-ins and to scale the idea to a broader public, and they choose April 22, a quiet weekday between Spring Break and Final Exams, to maximize the greatest student participation.

With a staff of 85, Hayes promoted events across the U.S and the effort soon broadened to include a wide range of organizations, faith groups, and others.  They changed the name to Earth Day, which immediately sparked national media attention, and caught on across the country.  Earth Day inspired 20 million Americans  to take to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development which had left a growing legacy of serious human health impacts.

For more information on events and actions:  https://www.earthday.org/