# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The First Earth Day

Every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

Let's take a look at the last half-century of mobilization for action:

ORIGINS OF EARTH DAY

In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of the consequences from either the law or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Until this point, mainstream America remained largely oblivious to environmental concerns and how a polluted environment threatens human health.

However, the stage was set for change with the publication of Rachel Carson's New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962. The book represented a watershed moment, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries as it raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the inextricable links between pollution and public health.
Earth Day 1970 would come to provide a voice to this emerging environmental consciousness, and putting environmental concerns on the front page.

THE IDEA FOR THE FIRST EARTH DAY

Senator Gaylord Nelson, the junior senator from Wisconsin, had long been concerned about the deteriorating environment in the United States. Then in January 1969, he and many others witnessed the ravages of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, Senator Nelson wanted to infuse the energy of student anti-war protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a teach-in on college campuses to the national media, and persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair. They recruited Denis Hayes, a young activist, to organize the campus teach-ins and they choose April 22, a weekday falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, to maximize the greatest student participation.

Recognizing its potential to inspire all Americans, Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land and the effort soon broadened to include a wide range of organizations, faith groups, and others. They changed the name to Earth Day, which immediately sparked national media attention, and caught on across the country. Earth Day inspired 20 million Americans - at the time, 10% of the total population of the United States - to take to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development which had left a growing legacy of serious human health impacts. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment and there were massive coast-to-coast rallies in cities, towns, and communities.

Groups that had been fighting individually against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness and the extinction of wildlife united on Earth Day around these shared common values. Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, urban dwellers and farmers, business and labor leaders. By the end of 1970, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of other first of their kind environmental laws, including the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later Congress passed the Clean Water Act. A year after that, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act and soon after the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. These laws have protected millions of men, women and children from disease and death and have protected hundreds of species from extinction.

1990: EARTH DAY GOES GLOBAL

As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders approached Denis Hayes to once again organize another major campaign for the planet. 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 - the highest honor given to civilians in the United States - for his role as Earth Day founder.

EARTH DAY FOR A NEW MILLENNIUM

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 built both global and local conversations, leveraging the power of the Internet to organize activists around the world, while also featuring a drum chain that traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa. Hundreds of thousands of people also gathered on the National Mall in Washington, DC for a First Amendment Rally.

30 years on, Earth Day 2000 sent world leaders a loud and clear message: Citizens around the world wanted quick and decisive action on global warming and clean energy.

EARTH DAY 2010

As in 1970, Earth Day 2010 came at a time of great challenge for the environmental community to combat the cynicism of climate change deniers, well-funded oil lobbyists, reticent politicians, a disinterested public, and a divided environmental community with the collective power of global environmental activism. In the face of these challenges, Earth Day prevailed and EARTHDAY.ORG reestablished Earth Day as a major moment for global action for the environment.

Over the decades, EARTHDAY.ORG has brought hundreds of millions of people into the environmental movement, creating opportunities for civic engagement and volunteerism in 193 countries. Earth Day engages more than 1 billion people every year and has become a major stepping stone along the pathway of engagement around the protection of the planet.

EARTH DAY TODAY

Today, Earth Day is widely recognized as the largest secular observance in the world, marked by more than a billion people every year as a day of action to change human behavior and create global, national and local policy changes.

Now, the fight for a clean environment continues with increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more and more apparent every day.

As the awareness of our climate crisis grows, so does civil society mobilization, which is reaching a fever pitch across the globe today. Disillusioned by the low level of ambition following the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015 and frustrated with international environmental lethargy, citizens of the world are rising up to demand far greater action for our planet and its people.

The social and cultural environments we saw in 1970 are rising up again today - a fresh and frustrated generation of young people are refusing to settle for platitudes, instead taking to the streets by the millions to demand a new way forward. Digital and social media are bringing these conversations, protests, strikes and mobilizations to a global audience, uniting a concerned citizenry as never before and catalyzing generations to join together to take on the greatest challenge that humankind has faced.

By tapping into some of the learnings, outcomes, and legacy of the first Earth Day, EARTHDAY.ORG is building a cohesive, coordinated, diverse movement, one that goes to the very heart of what EARTHDAY.ORG and Earth Day are all about - empowering individuals with the information, the tools, the messaging and the communities needed to make an impact and drive change.

We invite you to be a part of Earth Day and help write many more chapters-struggles and victories-into the Earth Day book.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Let's take a look at the last half-century of mobilization for action: In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye + solutions great and small | The Kid Should See This

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is climate change, what causes it, and how do we mitigate its effects? Bill Nye summarizes Climate Change 101 in concert with National Geographic’s

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
How can nature be used as a tool to restore ecosystems? What can we do to mitigate the effects of climate breakdown? This animation by motion designer Al Boardman for Natural Climate Solutions explains how we can capture carbon using plants and animals as strategic tools in our climate toolbox:

When living systems - like forests, peat bogs, saltmarshes and the seabed - are allowed to recover, they draw down carbon from the atmosphere, reducing the chances of climate catastrophe.

At the same time, their restoration will minimise extinction and ecological collapse, and create a richer world of wonders for us to enjoy.

A full list of solutions is proposed here. And you can read more about how these ideas are already being put into action around the globe: How art is healing Scottish peatlands, restored mangroves store as much carbon as intact ones, and by hydrologist/soils specialist Suzanne Fouty: How do wolves, beavers, and plants help us address climate change?

Previously: Learn how nature can repair our broken climate.

Plus: How to Save Our Planet, how to save our jungles, how to save our coastal seas, and how to save our frozen worlds, a smart series of videos narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

And, as always, watch more videos about climate change, conservation, solutions, and sustainability on this site, including growing 500 edible plants in a forest and what is the Circular Economy?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How can nature be used as a tool to restore ecosystems? | The Kid Should See This

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How can nature be used as a tool to restore ecosystems? What can we do to mitigate the effects of climate breakdown?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Save Our Jungles: Restoration and smart land use | The Kid Should See This

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Deforestation is the act of cutting down large areas of trees and plants, primarily to create croplands and pastures for agriculture. History holds many

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How To Save Our Coastal Seas: Marine reserves and smart fishing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Overfishing, fishing faster than the fish can grow and breed to maintain sustainable populations, is a big ecological and industrial challenge. The fish

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Protect, restore, and fund: These are the three goals that can help us use nature to tackle the climate crisis. In this video from The Guardian, environmental activists Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot explain how a massive shift toward Natural Climate Solutions can help "prevent climate breakdown by restoring our life support systems. You can help."

Note: This video primarily focuses on solutions and actions that can be pursued, however, it does mention the sixth wave of extinction and current issues in the news. As with all videos on TKSST, prescreen for younger viewers. With older kids, we recommend watching together to share additional conversations and to find local ways to take action.

Living ecosystems like forests, mangroves, swamps and seabeds can pull enormous quantities of carbon from the air and store them safely, but natural climate solutions currently receive only 2% of the funding spent on cutting emissions.

The film was directed by Gripping Films ' Tom Mustill, who explained:

"We tried to make the film have the tiniest environmental impact possible. We took trains to Sweden to interview Greta, charged our hybrid car at George's house, used green energy to power the edit and recycled archive footage rather than shooting new."

Read more about Natural Climate Solutions and Averting Climate Breakdown by Restoring Ecosystems on the organization's site. Plus, some context from The Los Angeles Times:

Young people have been mobilizing school strikes around the world since August 2018 when then-15-year-old Thunberg protested Swedish parliament over a lack of climate action. She started the viral #FridaysForFuture campaign that would later inspire [the September 20, 2019 climate] strike.

The movement cites a 2018 report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that warned world leaders that, without bold intervention, some devastating effects of climate change would hit harder - and much sooner - than previously expected.

Start here: How to Save Our Planet, the first in a video series narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Follow it with these: How to save our jungles, how to save our coastal seas, and how to save our frozen worlds.

Plus, learn more about how mangroves and other marine and coastal ecosystems capture carbon, and how beavers help bring their ecosystems into balance.

And listen to The Story of the Hummingbird, as told by celebrated Kenyan environmental activist, women's rights advocate, and Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Natural Climate Solutions: How nature can repair our broken climate | The Kid Should See This

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Protect, restore, and fund: These are the three goals that can help us use nature to tackle the climate crisis. In this video from The Guardian, environmental activists Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot explain how a massive shift toward Natural Climate Solutions can help "prevent climate breakdown by restoring our life support systems. You can help."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Our students are the future caretakers of our Earth. These fun Earth Day activities help empower kids to have a positive impact on the planet. From recycled art projects to farming simulations, here's how to roll out the green carpet in your classroom on Earth Day this year.

Your middle schoolers know that drinking plenty of H ₂ O is good for them, but they may not realize the impact all those plastic water bottles have on the environment.

In this project-based learning unit, they'll design their own solutions for this issue by using engineering. Then they'll create digital stories to share their ideas with the community.

Bonus: The lessons are aligned with the NGSS Engineering Design Standards.

In this art activity, students learn how to take their ideas from paper to reality. They'll use recyclable materials to design, draw, and build a creature, building, or whatever else they can imagine.

Through videos, activities, and lessons, students learn about the importance of recycling. They'll also learn about which items should be recycled, reused, or put in a landfill.

This lesson helps kids understand what could happen to plants and animals if they don't adapt when their environment changes.

First, kids read The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest. Then, they watch a video about animal camouflage. Next, they play a predator-prey simulation game. Finally, they do a fun web activity to explore what would happen to living things if the air's oxygen concentration changed.

How much energy do we consume simply by living our daily lives? This video, adapted from NOVA/FRONTLINE, helps students understand the amount of energy burned during daily activities. The video also explains how much CO ₂ those activities contribute to the atmosphere.

This video tells the story of four girls in Miami who joined forces to become the Green Team in order to reduce their school's carbon footprint-and save money at the same time.

After watching this video, your students may be motivated to conduct their own energy audit at your school.

Students learn they have the power to influence change in their community after watching this video about Team Marine. This group of students convinced decision-makers to ban plastic bags in their town after they realized the negative impact the bags have on the ocean and sea life.

In these interactive videos and games, inspired by the PBS series EARTH A New Wild, students get to explore the ecosystems of three different animals: vultures, wolves, and sharks. They'll watch a video introduction to learn about the relationship between animals and humans. Then they'll play an interactive game to discover the science of ecology and learn about conservation of these three worlds.

If you're looking for Earth Day activities for students who like video games, check out this fast and fun simulation. It lets students manage a plot of farmland. The challenge is to make their farm as successful as possible. They'll also need to keep an eye on their water meter and crop yields.

They'll learn about water and land resource needs, identify how weather and climate affect water availability and food production, and investigate how agricultural technology affects water use.

In this interactive research challenge designed by NOVA, students design their own renewable energy systems for different cities across the United States. Students learn why some sources of energy are running low and how energy can be converted into useful forms.

Finally, students compete with one another to see whose designs produce the most power.

Students may think Earth Day began as a celebration. If they do, what they may not realize is that when it was first observed in 1970, it was a day of protest and demonstrations throughout the United States.

This video includes historical photos of the first Earth Day that show the beginning of the U.S. movement to effect environmental change.

Electric cars are becoming more common, but do your students know that their cars may one day indirectly power things like refrigerators? In this STEAM video, students learn how engineers are researching ways to use electric vehicles to feed power back to the electric grid.

In this lesson, students learn about the value of renewable resources and expand their understanding of recycling and composting. The lesson includes videos and discussions about visiting a recycling plant and making recycled paper. After watching the second video, students will make their own recycled paper out of materials like cornstarch, water, aluminum foil, and newspaper.
What meaningful Earth Day activities do you do with your students?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
12 Meaningful Earth Day Activities for Every Grade

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our students are the future caretakers of our Earth. These fun Earth Day activities help empower kids to have a positive impact on the planet. From recycled art projects to farming simulations, here's how to roll out the green carpet in your classroom on Earth Day this year.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

via @StarTalkRadio.

This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity. TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what's usually served up by YouTube's algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.

Curated, kid-friendly, independently-published. Support this mission by becoming a sustaining member today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Carl Sagan's 'Pale Blue Dot' | The Kid Should See This

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.