The First Earth Day Brings Millions to the Streets

On April 22, 1970, an estimated twenty million people across the United States took to streets, parks, and university auditoriums to demand greater environmental protection. The mass mobilization arose from years of escalating ecological crises and public alarm. The publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson had alerted millions to the hazards of synthetic pesticides, while the famous 1968 Earthrise photograph helped reshape perceptions of the planet. Public concern surged further following the January 1969 blowout of Union Oil Platform A off the coast of Santa Barbara, which released over three million gallons of crude, and the subsequent fire on Ohio's polluted Cuyahoga River.

Senator Gaylord Nelson, an ardent conservationist from Wisconsin, sought to channel this rising concern into federal political action. Inspired partly by viewing the massive oil slick in the Santa Barbara Channel, Nelson proposed a nationwide environmental teach-in on college campuses, modeling the strategy on earlier anti-war debates. To lead the non-profit organization Environmental Teach-In, Inc., Nelson recruited Republican representative Pete McCloskey as co-chair and hired Denis Hayes, a former Harvard graduate student, as national coordinator. Hayes quickly built a team of regional coordinators.