The History of Earth Day

There is President’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and MLK day. We have holidays in celebration of our fore fathers, holidays of love, and holidays that celebrate leaders of change. So what’s what wrong with Earth day? In 1960’s senator Gaylord Nelson believed that the earth needed a day of observation too. I mean after all, us humans use and abuse earth to our advantage every single day, why shouldn’t the earth have a holiday too.

It is actually kind of funny to tell the story of how earth day came about, the journey starts in 1962 when Senator Nelson thought back to himself that the politics of the country had no worry or issue with the poor state of the environment. Senator Nelson knew that this was not ok and urged people to spread the word for the need. His major plan was to convince President Kennedy for the need of concern for the environment while, he was on a national conservation tour. Nelson first brought it up to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, whom liked the idea, the idea was then proposed to the President who was also very impressed with the idea. The fact of matter being was that even though even the President liked the idea for many reasons the issue still did not reach the political agenda.

So where did Nelson turn next? The Senator continued to speak across the nation to encourage the “limelight” of environment. More and more people began to notice the damage being done to the earth, but still the government did not care to notice the damages. It was not until 6 years later that Nelson came up with the actual idea of earth day. Inspired by Vietnam protests called “teach- ins” that were held on college campuses around the nation, Senator Nelson, thought to himself why not have a huge grass-roots protest to bring the issue to light.

With much time and effort and the help of many other senators, college students, and local organizations on April 22, 1970 the first earth day was a success with over 20 million demonstrators. Maxim thanks Senator Gaylord Nelson for his hard work and persistence! :)