Earth Day was first celebrated in the United States on April 22, 1970. There were over 20 million people that day. Earth Day in now observed in 175 countries and by 500 million people.

In 1969, John McConnell a leading peace and environmental activist from San Francisco, suggested at a UNESCO conference in San Francisco, that there should be a global celebration for the care and cleaning of the earth. He wrote the Earth Day Proclamation which was presented by then Mayor Joseph Alioto on March 21st 1970 . UN Secretary U Thant, along with Margaret Meade and other global leaders signed the proclamation on February 26th 1971. In March 1972 UN Secretary Waldheim celebrated the first Global Earth day by ringing the Peace Bell at the moment of the Spring equinox.

Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI, 1963 – 1981), an environmental activist took a leading role in its creation in the US. Senator Nelson was responding to a horrific oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969. He selected a young graduate student from Harvard, Denis Hayes, to be the national coordinator of activities. The event was to be a sort of environmental teach in that was to last for a week, April 19 - 25, to be after Easter and Passover, nor did it interfere with exams and Spring Break. The teach in was modeled after the Vietnam protests of the day, where everyone was to gather to learn and celebrate the earth. The date chosen was April 22 for many reasons; St Francis of Assisi birthday,the first environmentalist; Julius Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day,and his birthday; and John Muir, the founder of Sierra Club, while his birthday was April 21st many of the organizers thought it was the 22nd. These demonstrations were held in many cities through out the country; Washington DC with keynote speaker Pete Seeger and you can be fairly sure that he sang This Land is Your Land. Fifth Avenue in New York became a pedestrian mall with Keynotes Paul Newman and Ali McGraw. I was in Philadelphia’s Belmont Plateau, part of Fairmount Park, that day and heard Edmund Muskie speak of the inequities of money spent on Vietnam versus the environment.

It was not without controversy at the time, a member the Daughters of the American Revolution had been quoted that “Subversive elements plan to make American children live in an environment that is good for them” in a Time Magazine piece. Time magazine also equated it with Lenin’s birthday. The FBI investigated many of the organizers and conducted surveillance of the demonstrations.

Through these efforts we have seen many changes through the years. We have stopped the use of DDT, thus taking the Bald Eagle off the endangered species list, started municipal recycling programs for glass and paper, discontinued usage of fluorocarbons, we have stopped dumping raw sewage into our water ways, etc In its wake we have passed the Clean Air Act, and created the Environmental Protection Agency. This list could go on, and today we are still trying to coming to grips with our environmental issues and trying to determine ways to fix them. Leading the way is former Vice President Al Gore, noted especially by his documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth'.

This April 22nd, to paraphrase the DAR, lets all try to be subversive, and try to make this earth a place where our children can live in an environment that is good for them and good for us as well.