How Earth Day started and grew beyond its founder's dreams

From the archives: 1970 Earth Day study

From the archives: 1970 Earth Day peculiar study with Walter Cronkite 53:39

Earth Day has been recognized successful the United States connected April 22 since 1970. The time spurred enactment successful Washington, D.C., to make the Environmental Protection Agency and enact laws aimed astatine protecting the environment.

As communities crossed the state observe Earth Day successful 2025, here's what to cognize astir the past and its founder:

Who founded Earth Day?

Gaylord Nelson, the precocious U.S. legislator and politician of Wisconsin, is considered the laminitis of Earth Day. 

Nelson established himself arsenic a conservation person successful Wisconsin, wherever helium served arsenic politician betwixt 1959 and 1963. He was elected to the U.S. Senate successful 1962 and served 3 terms.

"The situation was an contented helium cared rather profoundly about, and helium took that passionateness and interest with him to Washington and recovered fewer of his colleagues were interested," Tia Nelson, Gaylord Nelson's girl and an biology activistic and argumentation adviser, told CBS News.

Her begetter struggled for years to find a mode to motivate the state connected the contented of conservation, Tia Nelson said. 

Then successful 1969, aft visiting the tract of the then-largest oil spill successful U.S. past disconnected the seashore of Santa Barbara, California, Nelson work an nonfiction connected his formation backmost to Washington astir however anti-war teach-ins astatine colleges and universities were changing the speech astir the Vietnam War.

"That's erstwhile the idea, the aha moment, came to him for the archetypal Earth Day," Tia Nelson said. 

The archetypal Earth Day: April 22, 1970

Gaylord Nelson's telephone to enactment was simple, Tia Nelson said. 

"His telephone to enactment was to designate a day, April 22, 1970, a azygous time for each teachers crossed the state to person a speech astir the situation with their students," she said. 

The day April 22 was chosen to autumn erstwhile assemblage students weren't connected outpouring interruption oregon taking last exams. 

What followed was beyond Nelson's "wildest dreams," Tia Nelson said.

While the fig of participants whitethorn not person been instantly wide connected that time successful 1970, historians accidental an estimated 20 cardinal Americans took portion successful demonstrations. 

Part of the occurrence of Earth Day was the grassroots quality of the telephone to action, Tia Nelson said. 

"My begetter didn't question to prescribe a top-down, coming from Washington medicine to what the effect to this telephone to enactment should be, but alternatively called for individuals, communities, schools to bash what makes consciousness to them, what resonated to them, successful their communities, and the diverseness of actions was amazing," she said. "There were protests, determination were concerts, determination were trash cleanable ups, determination were histrion plantings."

The time led to different actions, including establishing the Environmental Protection Agency and the transition of authorities similar the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.

Earth Day today

Gaylord Nelson acknowledged that his extremity — "an situation of decency, prime and communal respect for each quality beings and each different surviving creatures" — would "require a agelong sustained political, mural, ethical and fiscal commitment."

"He asked the question, Are we able? Yes. Are we willing? That's the unanswered question," Tia Nelson said. "The question remains unanswered, and that's hard, 55 years in, for radical similar myself who person dedicated their lives to biology protection."

While advancement has been made, determination person besides been "a batch of setbacks," she said. "We're not wherever we request to beryllium successful addressing the situation of clime change."

One spot wherever enactment continues each the clip is astatine section levels, said Paul Robbins, the dean of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies astatine the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which was besides established successful 1970 and past renamed aft Nelson successful 2002.

"Municipalities are astir apt the biggest actors connected clime alteration close now," Robbins told CBS News. "Not the elephantine cities similar Chicago oregon New York, but the mid-size and tiny municipality cities."

One illustration helium pointed to was the Juda School District successful confederate Wisconsin installing star panels connected its roofs. 

"That's a truly section thing, but you multiply that past implicit each township and region successful the U.S. and you're really going to marque headway," helium said. 

Companies making changes to their vigor choices to prevention wealth and beryllium much businesslike is different illustration — thing that was "unthinkable successful 1970," Robbins said.

For Tia Nelson, much enactment requires "meeting radical wherever they are."

"I interest myself a batch these days with reasoning astir however to broaden the conversation, however not to talk to the choir but to turn the congregation," she said.

In:
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Earth Day