Earth Day, April 22

Official logo for the 1970 Earth Week

The first Earth Day was organized on April 22, 1970. The ecology movement is mainstream now and Earth Day wasn't even mentioned on the news this morning. But back in 1970, "Save the Earth" was a fresh, new idea. The event was founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson after the horrific 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara. Nelson proposed that schools should set aside one day a year as an environmental "teach-in."  At the time, dozens of oil rigs dotted the horizon just off the coast in southern California-- a disaster waiting to happen.

I'm trying to remember where I was on April 22, 1970.  We were living in Oxnard, California in a tiny beach apartment. I'd just graduated from high school and was a student at a pretty community college in Ventura. There was free tuition for California residents in those golden days. I remember demonstrations on Earth Day, but there were always protests happening on campus.

1969 Ecology Flag

Earth Day marked the beginning of the American environmental movement. Individual groups that had been fighting against oil spills, pollution, pesticides and loss of wilderness suddenly had a common cause, and a national movement began.  But ecology really starts in each backyard.  An old hippie has arrived to tend the organic fairy garden.