I hope everyone enjoyed ME鈥檚 recent Earth Day celebration! Have you ever wondered about the origin of Earth Day and why it occurs on April 22?
The first Earth Day dates to 1970 and combined efforts from a marine biologist, a Democratic senator, a Republican congressman, an environmental activist and college campuses. Until the 1960s, many Americans were unaware of the effects of environmental pollution on human health. This began to change when marine biologist Rachel Carson published her bestselling book Silent Spring in 1962, detailing the negative effects of World War II-era pesticides.
Democratic Sen. Gaylord Nelson was passionate about raising awareness of this issue and came up with the idea for a nationwide 鈥渆nvironmental teach-in鈥 on college campuses. He convinced Republican Rep. Pete McCloskey and activist Denis Hayes to help organize the event. Since they were targeting college campuses, they chose April 22 because it fell between spring break and final exams (not anymore under our new academic calendar).
They decided that 鈥淓arth Day鈥 was a catchier name than 鈥渆nvironmental teach-in,鈥 and the event drew participation from about 10% of the U.S. population at the time. As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency was created later that year. Earth Day is a great example of science being communicated to the public that resulted in direct policy changes!
