Earth Day Turns 50
April 22, 2020
Australia on Earth as seen from space.
Credit: © Harvepino/Shutterstock
How are you going to improve the world today? On this date, 50 years ago, an estimated 20 million Americans, both young and old, took part in the very first Earth Day. The number of people who participate in Earth Day grows each year as the world becomes more connected via social media and internet access. This year, public Earth Day celebrations in many areas will be curtailed as a result of social distancing measures undertaken to stem the spread of the coronavirus disease COVID-19. However, billions of people around the globe will take time examine human impacts on the environment.
Perhaps the most serious issue facing the environment today is climate change due to global warming. Global warming is an observed increase in Earth’s average surface temperature, driven by human activities. Global warming drives changes to the climate that can damage ecosystems, drive species to the brink of extinction, and increase the frequency and severity of such disasters as wildfires.
Earth Day began in the United States on April 22, 1970. In 1969, U.S. Senator Gaylord A. Nelson of Wisconsin suggested that a day of environmental education be held on college campuses, similar to the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called “teach-ins.” The following year, the lawyer and environmentalist Denis Hayes, then a recent graduate of Stanford University, led hundreds of students in planning and organizing the observance of the first Earth Day.
While working around colleges’ academic schedules, Earth Day was also a tip-of-the-hat to another notable environmental action day, Arbor Day. Nebraska newspaper editor and politician Julius Sterling Morton began Arbor Day once he realized how much trees enrich and conserve moisture in soil. Through his efforts, April 10, 1872, was set aside as Nebraska’s first Arbor Day. The Nebraska Legislature later made Arbor Day a legal holiday and changed its date to April 22, Morton’s birthday. Today, however, National Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday of April.
The observance of the first Earth Day helped alert people to the dangers of pollution and stimulated a new environmental movement. That same year, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set and enforce pollution standards. Congress also passed the Clean Air Act of 1970, which limited the amount of air pollution that cars, utilities, and industries could release. Other new environmental laws soon followed.
