Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin created because of massive oil spills.

[midnight]

Last edited Sun Apr 21, 2013, 09:35 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.earthday.org/earth-day-history-movement

Senator would be appalled by what Scott Walker and the mining and fracking Koch boys are doing to Wisconsin, and those other states being mined and fracked...


As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. "It was a gamble," Gaylord recalled, "but it worked."

As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders asked Denis Hayes to organize another big campaign. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995) -- the highest honor given to civilians in the United States -- for his role as Earth Day founder.

As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. With 5,000 environmental groups in a record 184 countries reaching out to hundreds of millions of people, Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. It used the Internet to organize activists, but also featured a talking drum chain that traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, and hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Earth Day 2000 sent world leaders the loud and clear message that citizens around the world wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy.

[LeftInTX]

1. The Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969

I remember the oiled birds. But I also found this pic. The blow out occurred in January, so this pic was probably taken several months later.

[midnight]

2. Thanks for posting this pic. Oil companies have been able to

rig the system for way to long....

[Brother Buzz]

3. Pete McClosky - Lessons from Earth Day

Recorded: November 8, 2012. A most unique perspective about then and now

http://vimeo.com/56355955

[midnight]

4. 3/4 of congress use to be environmentalist...

1971-1974 land mark environmental laws passed and bipartisan corporation went on for the next 20 years until Newt Gingrich became speaker. Really important info. in this recording.. Thanks for sharing..