First Earth Day (1970): Birth of the Environmental Movement

The first Earth Day, held on 22 April 1970, was a nationwide day of teach-ins, rallies and clean-ups across the United States. An estimated 20 million Americans took part, making it one of the largest demonstrations in the country’s history. It turned growing worry about pollution into a powerful political force and helped launch the modern environmental movement.

Background: a decade of alarm

By the late 1960s many Americans could see and smell pollution. Smog hung over Los Angeles and other cities, rivers carried untreated sewage and industrial waste, and pesticides were turning up in wildlife and food. Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring had warned in 1962 that chemicals such as DDT were harming birds and ecosystems.

The year 1969 brought striking images. In January a blowout on an offshore platform caused the Santa Barbara oil spill, coating California beaches and seabirds in crude oil. In June the polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland. At the end of 1968, astronauts on Apollo 8 had photographed Earth rising over the Moon, an image that many people saw as a reminder of the planet’s fragility.

Student activism was also at a peak, driven by the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War. Campus teach-ins, long sessions of lectures and debate, had become a familiar way to raise awareness.

Gaylord Nelson’s idea

Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin had been trying for years to make conservation a national political issue. After visiting the oiled coast at Santa Barbara in 1969, he decided to borrow the teach-in model from the anti-war movement and apply it to the environment.

Nelson announced his plan at a conference in Seattle in September 1969, calling for a nationwide environmental teach-in the following spring. The idea spread quickly through the press. To show the cause crossed party lines, he recruited Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey of California as co-chair.

A small national office, Environmental Teach-In Inc., was set up in Washington, D.C. Its coordinator was Denis Hayes, a 25-year-old student who left Harvard to run the effort with a group of young staff. They encouraged local groups to organize their own events rather than directing everything from the center. The name “Earth Day” was adopted for the campaign, and it proved far more memorable than “teach-in”.

Choosing the date

Organizers chose Wednesday, 22 April 1970. The date fell after spring break and before final examinations on most college campuses, so students would be available. Holding it on a weekday also meant that schools and campuses could take part during ordinary class time.

What happened on 22 April 1970

Events took place in every state. According to the organizers, around 2,000 colleges and universities, roughly 10,000 primary and secondary schools and thousands of communities held activities. Participants attended lectures, planted trees, picked up litter and marched against polluters.

In New York City, Mayor John Lindsay closed part of Fifth Avenue to traffic, and huge crowds gathered in the streets and in Union Square. Philadelphia held a week of events ending with a rally in Fairmount Park, where Senator Edmund Muskie, a leading author of anti-pollution laws, spoke. Students in some places staged symbolic protests against cars, litter and polluting companies.

Congress adjourned for the day so members could speak at events in their home states. Speakers ranged from scientists and politicians to musicians and religious leaders. Nelson himself travelled to speak at several events that day.

The University of Michigan had already held a large Teach-In on the Environment in March 1970, organized by a student group called ENACT. Its success showed that the national event could draw big crowds.

Who took part

Earth Day reached far beyond college students. High school pupils organized clean-ups of streams and vacant lots, and younger children studied pollution in class. Church groups, garden clubs, women’s organizations and conservation societies held their own events.

Labor unions also played a part. The United Auto Workers, led by Walter Reuther, gave financial support to the organizers, arguing that workers suffered first from dirty air and water in factories and nearby neighborhoods. Some business leaders took part, while other companies were targeted by protesters as polluters.

Politicians from both parties joined in. Many members of Congress spoke at events in their home districts, and state legislatures passed resolutions. The mix of participants helped convince Washington that the environment was not a passing fashion but a concern shared by voters of all kinds.

Key people

Gaylord Nelson (1916–2005) was governor of Wisconsin before serving in the US Senate from 1963 to 1981. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 for his role in founding Earth Day.

Pete McCloskey (1927–2024) was a Republican congressman from California and co-chair of the effort, showing that environmental protection then had support in both parties.

Denis Hayes coordinated the national campaign and later led the expansion of Earth Day to other countries.

Consequences: a burst of environmental law

The scale of Earth Day surprised politicians and showed that the environment was a mainstream concern. The following years produced the most important environmental legislation in American history.

The National Environmental Policy Act had already been signed on 1 January 1970. In July 1970 President Richard Nixon proposed a new agency, and the Environmental Protection Agency began work on 2 December 1970. On 31 December Nixon signed the Clean Air Act amendments, which set national air quality standards and limits on car exhaust.

The Clean Water Act followed in 1972, the Endangered Species Act in 1973 and the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974. Environmental groups grew rapidly, and a new campaign group, Environmental Action, formed from the Earth Day organizers, targeted members of Congress with poor environmental records.

Myths and facts

Earth Day is sometimes described as a purely left-wing or student event. In fact it had bipartisan sponsors and drew participants from many backgrounds, including workers, church groups and business people. Another common belief is that Earth Day was organized from the top down. Its success rested largely on local organizers who planned their own events.

Legacy

Earth Day became an annual event. In 1990 it went global, with organizers reporting some 200 million participants in 141 countries. The day is now marked across most of the world each 22 April, and the Earth Day Network, now EarthDay.org, coordinates activities.

In 2016 world leaders chose Earth Day to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change at the United Nations in New York. Historians regard the 1970 event as the moment when environmentalism became a lasting mass movement in the United States.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1962, September: Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is published.
• 1969, 28 January: Santa Barbara oil spill begins.
• 1969, 20 September: Gaylord Nelson announces plans for a national environmental teach-in in Seattle.
• 1970, 1 January: National Environmental Policy Act signed into law.
• 1970, 11–14 March: University of Michigan Teach-In on the Environment.
• 1970, 22 April: First Earth Day; an estimated 20 million Americans take part.
• 1970, 2 December: The Environmental Protection Agency begins operating.
• 1970, 31 December: Clean Air Act amendments signed.
• 1990, 22 April: Earth Day becomes a global event in 141 countries.

Why it matters

The first Earth Day showed that care for the environment had broad public support. It changed American politics almost overnight, helping to create the laws and institutions that still regulate air, water and wildlife, and it inspired an annual global observance.