Earth Day

Before blogs about composting and Al Gore’s revolutionary documentary The Inconvenient Truth, there was a 45-page children's book that tackled the issue of saving our environment, Dr. Suess’ The Lorax. As a little girl what I most remember about this book are the strange creatures, the colorful plants, and ___________. But as an adult, it’s the simple phrase that Dr. Suess wrote that gives me pause, “_________________”, and makes me think what am I doing to better improve our environment?

During the 1960s, the American counterculture was at its zenith. College students began protesting the Vietnam War, the Second Wave of Feminism was rising, and psychedelic music started to become popular. While the times were changing, the American people weren’t so much. We still bought huge gas guzzling cars as a way to show their prosperity, companies began polluting the air at an alarming rate all in the name of doing business, and almost little to no one practiced recycling. In fact, environmentalism was so unheard of that it didn’t show up on any national political agenda until later in the decade. However, Americans began to take notice of their surrounds with Rachel Carson’s 1962 novel, Silent Spring and the horrific 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara.

After witnessing the massive oil spill in 1969, Wisconsin Senator Gaylor Nelson knew he had to take action. Inspired by the anti-war movement "teach-ins" that were happening all over college campuses, Nelson had an idea to create a single day that focuses on shedding light on the need for environmental protection. And thus, the idea for Earth Day was born. In order to make this day a success, Nelson hired Denis Hayes, a young activist, to create an army of student volunteers for this event. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took the streets, parks, and colleges across the country to demonstrate for environmental protection laws. What Nelson couldn't have seen is the impact this single day would create. In less than a year after his grassroots rallies, the United States Environmental Protection Agency was created along with the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species act.

Flash forward to now, it's amazing how far we've come. Now students in elementary school are learning about recycling as part of their curriculum, people are starting blogs about composting, and even videos are being amde to