Environmentalism: A new movement

Thanks to the environmental issues and the moon landing, the 70s people expanded their views on preserving nature. Earth Day began on April 22, 1970, and the day marked a beginning of the growth of the environmental movement.

Earth Day was first established through Gaylord Nelson, a Senator from Wisconsin. As an environmental activist, Nelson was influenced for the event in Santa Barbara, right after the horrific oil spill in 1969. Angered by the lack of the interest from the general public for concern of the environment and devastation it caused, Nelson proposed a national awareness on the environment yearly.

The results were tremendous as New York City alone, one million citizens shut down Fifth Avenue in acknowledgment of the environment. In Philadelphia they created Earth Week.




Senator Nelson wrote of the first 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.”






Environmental Effects?
-Nixon's Clean Air Act (1970)
-Nixon's Clean Water Act (1972)
-Nixon's Pesticide Control Act (1972)
-Geothermal Energy Research
-National Energy Act (1978)
-Development and Demonstration Act (1974)
-Solar Heating and Cooling -Demonstration Act (1974)

Key People?
-Senator Gaylord Nelson
-President Jimmy Carter
-Rachel Carson