History of Earth Day

Who knew that one man's idea would be the spark to a nationwide grassroots explosion?  The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970.  It was the product of an idea that Senator Gaylord Nelson first began thinking about in 1962.  Before this time, the environment was not much of a national issue.

The environment was very important to Senator Gaylord Nelson, and he was able to convince President Kennedy to go on a conservation tour and speak about the dangers that the environment was facing.  However, the tour did not elicit the type of response that Nelson was hoping for.

While Nelson was on a conservation tour in the summer of 1969, he came up with the idea of having Earth Day.  His idea stemmed from the Vietnam War protests that were occurring on college campuses.  He decided that there should be a national day for teaching about the environment and increasing public awareness about its future.

An Earth Day campaign was established in Washington D.C., with Senator Nelson serving on its board of directors and Republican Representative Pete McCloskey as co-chair.  Denis Hayes, a recent graduate from Stanford University was hired as National Coordinator of the first Earth Day.  Approximately 20 million people participated in the demonstration known as Earth Day in 1970.  Senator Nelson finally received the response that he was looking for.*

*Earth Day history information gathered from an excerpt from a catalyst conference speech, University of Illinois 10/6/90 by Former Senator Gaylord Nelson