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How the First Earth Day Came About by Senator Gaylord Nelson Founder of Earth Day For many years prior to Earth Day, it had been troubling to me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of our country. The President, the Congress, the economic power structure of the nation and the press paid almost no attention to this issue, which is of such staggering import to our future. It was clear that until we somehow got this matter into the political arena -- until it became part of the national political dialogue -- not much would ever be achieved. The puzzling challenge was to think up some dramatic event that would focus national attention on the environment. Finally, in 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to get the environment into the political limelight once and for all. President Kennedy Conservation Tour That idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give national visibility to this issue by going on a nationwide conservation tour, spelling out in dramatic language the serious and deteriorating condition of our environment. The President liked the idea and went on his five-day conservation tour in late September 1963. For many reasons, the tour didn't achieve what I had hoped for; it did not succeed in making the environment a national political issue. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day. Six years would pass before the idea for Earth Day occurred to me in the summer of 1969, while on a conservation speaking tour out West. Environmental Teach-In At that time, there was a great deal of turmoil on the college campuses over the Vietnam War. Protests, called anti-war teach-ins, were being widely held on campuses across the nation. On a flight from Santa Barbara to the University of California-Berkeley, I read an article on the teach-ins, and it suddenly occurred to me: Why not have a nationwide teach-in on the environment? That was the origin of Earth Day. In a speech in Seattle in September 1969, I announced there would be a national environmental teach-in in the spring of 1970. The wire services carried the story nationwide. The response was dramatic. It took off like gangbusters. Lasting Results Earth Day achieved what I had hoped for. 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 and, finally, force this issue permanently onto the national political agenda. It was a gamble, but it worked. An estimated twenty million people participated in demonstrations all across the country. It was truly an astonishing grassroots explosion. The people cared, and Earth Day became the first opportunity they ever had to join in a nationwide demonstration to send a big message to the politicians--a message to tell them to wake up and do something.
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