Earth Day and EPA Turns 40
The 5th Dimension won 2 Grammy Awards in 1970 for Record of the Year and Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a group. The song was “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” a medley of two songs from the musical Hair. It was truly a dawning of the Age of Aquarius and time to let the sunshine in, a time for the nation to wake up and take action to protect our environment.
It is hard to believe that until the seventies there were no regulatory means to protect the environment. Factories were free to produce their toxic waste and release the pollutants into the air and streams. Environmental concerns were a non-political issue for our government. Senator Gaylord Nelson, from Wisconsin beginning in 1962 strived to change that by pushing the environment into the political arena. Senator Nelson spoke on environmental issues in appearances across the country. While touring he learned that the people were concerned about the environment but not their elected leaders.
It was 1969 and the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations called “teach-ins” had spread through the nation’s college campuses. The “teach-ins” inspired Senator Nelson to form a grassroots protest and put the environment onto the national agenda.
November 30, 1969, 5 months before the first Earth Day, The New York Times reported on the current environmental events:
"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...."
On April 22, 1970, 20 million people participated in the inaugural Earth Day activities around the United States. Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment.
Senator Gaylord later commented on the success of Earth Day, “Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.”
In the months following Earth Day, President Richard Nixon and Congress established the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in response to the growing public demand for cleaner water, air and land. On December 2, 1970, the EPA opened its doors in downtown Washington, D.C. The EPA’s goal is to repair the damage already done to the environment and to establish guidelines for a cleaner and safer environment for all future generations.
Let the sunshine in!
