Firefighters battle a hearth on Ohio’s Cuyahoga River in 1952. The polluted river caught fireplace on a number of events between 1936 and 1969, when particles and oil had focused on the water’s floor and ignited. A blaze in 1969 got here at a time of accelerating environmental consciousness and symbolized years of environmental neglect. Picture courtesy of Cleveland Press Assortment at Cleveland State College Library.
On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River on the southern shores of Lake Erie caught on fireplace as chemical compounds, oil, and different industrial supplies that had oozed into the river one way or the other ignited. Just some months earlier than, on January 28, 1969, an oil rig leaked thousands and thousands of gallons of oil off the coast of Santa Barbara. That very same 12 months, stories surfaced that our nationwide image, the bald eagle, was quickly declining as a species as a result of chemical DDT, whereas around the globe, whales have been being hunted practically to extinction. These and different incidents caught the eye of the nationwide media and galvanized public consciousness of the various environmental insults being hurled on the nation and the planet.
In response to the general public outcry, Earth Day Founder Gaylord Nelson, who served because the Governor of Wisconsin (1958-1962) and within the U.S. Senate (1963-1981), organized a nationwide “teach-in” about environmental points to happen on April 22, 1970. Greater than 2,000 faculties and universities, 10,000 public faculties, and 20 million residents participated—practically 10 p.c of the U.S. inhabitants at the moment.
This outpouring of grassroots environmental activism marked the primary Earth Day—a recognition of the significance of caring for the atmosphere and accepting stewardship duty for the nation’s sources. It additionally helped set up a political local weather conducive to forming each the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Environmental Safety Company (EPA) on October 3, 1970.
We wish to say that “Day by day is Earth Day at NOAA.” However ever since April 22, 1970, folks the world over take time to acknowledge the significance of defending the Earth’s pure sources—be they oceanic, atmospheric, terrestrial, or organic—for future generations.
