Earth Day, an event to increase public awareness of the world’s environmental problems, is celebrated in the United States for the first time on April 22, 1970. Millions of Americans, including students from thousands of colleges and universities, participated in rallies, marches and educational programs across the country.
Earth Day was the brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, a staunch environmentalist who hoped to provide unity to the grassroots environmental movement and increase ecological awareness. “The objective was to get a nationwide demonstration of concern for the environment so large that it would shake the political establishment out of its lethargy,” Senator Nelson said, “and, finally, force this issue permanently onto the national political agenda.”
History Shorts: Earth Day's Environmental Origins
The 1962 publication of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring—about the effects of pesticides—is often cited as the beginning of the modern environmental movement in the U.S. Sustainability, organic eating and the “back-to-the-land” movement continued to gain steam throughout the 1960s.
The first Earth Day indeed increased environmental awareness in America, and in July of 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency was established by special executive order to regulate and enforce national pollution legislation. Earth Day also led to the passage of the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.
On April 22, 1990, the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, more than 200 million people in 141 countries participated in Earth Day celebrations. Senator Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in September 1995. (He died in 2005.)
Earth Day has been celebrated on different days by different groups internationally. The United Nations officially celebrates it on the vernal equinox, which usually occurs about March 21.
The first Earth Day celebration took place on April 22, 1970. In New York City, some 250,000 people flooded Fifth Avenue.
Students at Cerritos College in Norwalk, California release a large balloon during a rally celebrating the first official Earth Day.
A close-up of a hand holding up an Earth Day button, which reads, "Save your Earth—You can't get off." Though urban events made the biggest splash in the press, the true impact of Earth Day came from the more than 12,000 events scattered around the country, attended by an estimated 20 million Americans.
Kurt Amuedo, a third grader at University Park Elementary in Denver, Colorado, displays poster hitting air pollution for Earth Day at school.
Students build a "world" of tin cans at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts for Earth Day, April 21, 1970.
In Hohokus, New Jersey, Terry Seuss, 14, on Earth Day spends time cleaning up recyclable litter.
College students from University of California, Irvine observe the first official Earth Day by visiting a garbage dump in a trolley car with a poster reading "Recognize the Polluter, Recognize Ourselves."
Children use push brooms to sweep a New York City park on Earth Day.
People looking at chart showing average emissions released into the atmosphere per mile of motor travel on the first official Earth Day.
Bicyclists wear signs on their back touting the benefits of biking over driving cars to reduce air pollution.
New Yorkers rollerskate in New York City on Earth Day, 1970.
Peter Cohen of the University of Colorado leads 260 cyclists in the "Bike Hike." Starting the previous weekend leading up to the first Earth Day, a small unit of student cyclists left Boulder. Others joined in Fort Collins, Greeley and Colorado Springs to arrive, along with some 200 walkers, at Denver's Currigan Hall.
Chalk art fills the streets on Earth Day on April 20, 1970 in New York, N.Y.
In NYC's Union Square, girls plant flowers on April 22, 1970
A crowd of people gather in NYC near a large poster that shows a speech bubble from planet Earth that reads "Help!!"
Two young people attempt to share a kiss with each other while wearing gas masks during an Earth Day pollution protest march. Earth Day’s success helped spur action in Washington on behalf of the environment. Just eight months later, Congress authorized the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the 1970s would see passage of a slew of environmental bills.
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