Remembering EARTH DAY 1970

We have a fascinating story on our main site today.   Take a look.  We will be talking to the president of Earth Day (the organization) this week on the radio side.  Should be a fabulous interview:



The rest you can find on our main site:

"Each year, Earth Day — April 22 — marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Here at ReNewable Now we want to make sure we all remember this historic moment and what a difference it has made. And if you weren't aware of the many positive changes born out of Earth Day here are a few examples we would like to share.

• The creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency

• Passage of the Clean Air Act

• Passage of the Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts

Those are just a few that happened in one year, 1970. Wow!  What a monumental year. We need to reflect back on that time and remember it, and those who helped to shape it, and move it forward. Hopefully it is with this example that we can all continue to be inspired and move towards a healthier and more sustainable earth for future generations. So lets take a look back to when it all began.

The height of hippie and flower-child culture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Protest was the order of the day, but saving the planet was not the cause. War raged in Vietnam, and students nationwide increasingly opposed it.

At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. “Environment” was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.  Although mainstream America remained oblivious to environmental concerns, the stage had been set for change by the publication of Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962.  The book represented a watershed moment for the modern environmental movement, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries and, up until that moment, more than any other person, Ms. Carson raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and public health..."