Spring is the time of rejuvenation: Nature is reborn, the sun begins to shine again, and flowers bloom- which makes it the perfect time to celebrate the natural world. Businesses and politicians reaffirm their commitment to the environment, while school children make papier-mâché planet Earths and go out with their classmates to pick up rubbish.
Unlike Easter, a similar but undeniably religious springtime festival, Earth Day’s roots are secular and born out of an era when populations first noticed the impact of industrialisation and changing behaviours on the physical world in real time.
Flower Power Evolves
After two shattering world wars and the 1950’s rapidly adopting the car as the single most ubiquitous form of transport, the 1960’s are famous for cultivating an army of students and activists horrified at the continuing social inequality and international wars they saw around them.
By the end of the decade, after pollution-related disasters such as the 1969 Cuyahoga River Fire, it became harder and harder to deny the dangerous impact of industrialisation and machination on the physical environment. In 1969, an activist named John McConnel attended the SanFrancisco UNESCO conference and suggested dedicating a day of observation to peace and the Planet Earth. Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson put it into action. On April 22nd, 1970, the first official Earth Day arrived, and with it “The Environmental Decade”.
Though it began in the States, by 1990, Earth Day was celebrated in over 140 countries, and new government funded and organised environmental agencies had emerged, including the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).
The Environmental Decade
In 1970, famous songs like Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi and Cat Stevens’s Where do the children play? were released, in retrospect acting almost as anthems to what would become the most environmentally protective decade in modern legislative history. (More explicit songs like Tom Lehrer’s Pollution and Pete Seeger’s My Dirty Stream (The Hudson River Song), were both released in the mid-60’s and have been depressingly forgotten despite their continued relevance.)
The 1970’s saw the introduction of mass recycling, as well as the mainstreaming of organic farming, meat-free Western diets, and animal rights. In the States, the Environmental Protection Agency was established, with important legislation like the Clean Air, the Water Quality Improvement, and the Endangered Species Acts being passed. In the UK, 1970 established the Department of the Environment, and 1973 launched the Green Party.
Fifty-three Years Later and Beyond
Despite the progress in awareness and legislation in the later years of the 20th Century, we’ve seen significant biodiversity loss and deforestation in the last thirty years, not to mention shockingly rapid increases in greenhouse gas emissions.
Despite the pledges of the 2014 Paris Climate Accord, scientists continue to warn that countries are perilously far from the targets necessary to limit global heating and the most destructive impacts of climate change. In response, 2021-2030 has been declared The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and we’ve seen a massive influx in climate protests and civilian action groups.
Earth Day continues to be a crucial annual reminder of the preciousness of our planet.
