This April 22, Earth Day turns 50.
The world’s largest secular holiday approaches its golden anniversary in the shadow of two global crises. This year’s day is dedicated to climate action, and the celebration has moved online in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
But Earth Day has a history of uniting people around the world to solve the major problems facing our planet. Here’s a look back on some of the most important Earth Days in the celebration’s 50-year history and what they helped accomplish.
1970: The First Earth Day Sprouts a Movement
By 1970, decades of rampant pollution had dirtied America’s air, set rivers on fire and led to major disasters like the Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969. So on April 22 of that year, 20 million Americans, or 10 percent of the U.S. population, came out to demand a clean, healthy environment. The day had many organizers, but the idea came from Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, a staunch environmentalist.
“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,” Nelson said, according to History, “and, finally, force this issue permanently onto the national political agenda.”
He succeeded. The day is widely credited with encouraging the formation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.
1990: Earth Day Spreads Earth-Wide
One of the original Earth Day organizers and Earth Day Network founder Denis Hayes was asked by a coalition of environmental leaders to organize a big event for the day’s 20th anniversary. Hayes told TIME in 2019 that the 1990 Earth Day was “probably the second most important Earth Day.”
In some ways, Hayes conceded, the day was not a success. It tried to raise awareness about climate change and the need for renewable energy, but without a groundswell of popular concern around those issues.
“We were trying to create a wave from basically nothing but intellectual discourse,” Hayes told TIME. “Did we succeed? The answer to that nearly 30 years later is pretty obvious, though I’m not sure there was a way it could succeed.”
However, the day did “[give] birth to what is known as the modern Earth Day movement,” as The Years Project put it. The day was celebrated by 200 million people in 141 countries, according to the Earth Day Network. It raised global awareness about recycling and helped lead to the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
2010: Earth Day Launches a Billion Acts of Green
Apr. 20, 2020 10:13AM EST
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