Why Earth Day?

THE idea of an Earth Day was first thought by Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California.

Sen. Nelson inspired by the student anti-war movement realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda.

He called for a  “national teach-in on the environment” on April 22, 1970 with Denis Hayes, one of the early proponents of solar energy as coorinator.

This resulted in 20 million Americans taking the streets, parks, auditoriums on the 22nd of April, to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment.

Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns front and center.

Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

In the Philippines, on April 16, 1990, President Corazon C. Aquino issued Proclamation No. 553, officially mandating April 22 of every year as Earth Day.

As 1990 approached,  Hayes again organized another big campaign.

This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 paved the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. (Source: www.https://www.earthday.org)