The History of Earth Day

By Vincent Candela

Earth Day is a day where the earth is recognized and we try think of ways to not wreck our planet. It is celebrated on April 22. It was first celebrated in April 22, 1970 and it was the start of the environmental movement. At that time factories dumped whatever they wanted in rivers, factories could also burn whatever they felt like burning and they could do it anywhere. Companies also made many dumps with toxic materials sometimes in the middle of watersheds and people drove around cars with leaded gas.

The basis of the modern environmental movement began when Rachel Carson published a book called Silent Spring in 1962. It was where she took on the chemical industry. She exposed information about many dangerous chemicals that different companies were using. Before this book was published, the word “environment” was never really used except for in spelling bees. This book raised awareness for the environment.

The founder of Earth Day was Gaylord Nelson a senator from Wisconsin who was worried about the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. He thought that if he could get the energy from the anti-Vietnam movement to the environmental movement then there could be actual change for the environment. He persuaded Pete McCloskey another congressman to be his co-chair for his environmental movement. He also hired Denis Hayes as the national coordinator for the movement. Hayes hired about 80 people as his staff. Since many people then realized a lot of environmental problems they staged many protests.

On Earth Day 1970 almost all politicians (except for industry politicians) agreed on national environment reform. The following laws congress enacted were staggering. The laws were the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. They also created the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) which protected the environment and managed superfund sites. Superfund sites are places where there are a lot toxic chemicals. The main agency is the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.).