Poolesville Seniors is celebrating the Earth this month, and on Earth Day April 22, we celebrate the dawn of the modern environmental movement.
After the deprivations of WWII, American industry and population growth boomed. We became a world of conspicuous consumers, unaware of the environment. Inefficient leaded–gas–guzzling automobiles, belching smokestacks, pesticide toxins, sludge, and the pollution they caused were a sign of prosperity.
This collective unconsciousness was laid bare by Rachel Carson’s 1962 bestselling environmental expose, Silent Spring. The impact of the book on the perception of the Earth was immediate. It sold 500,000 copies, one quarter of them to the Readers Digest Book Club. It was read by members of congress and President John Kennedy, who created the President’s Science Advisory Committee. The Committee’s 1963 report called for reductions in pesticide use.
In 1969, a devastating oil spill off Santa Barbara, California, and the mesmerizing Apollo 11 moon mission combined to intensify interest in preserving the Earth’s environment. One year after the oil spill, Santa Barbara celebrated “Environmental Rights Day”. Several U.S. lawmakers were event speakers including Congressman Pete McCloskey and Senator Gaylord Nelson. They were inspired to organize a wide range of organizations, college campuses, and faith groups for the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Twenty million Americans participated.
In 1990, Earth Day expanded environmental issues to the world stage in 141 countries with 200 million people. Now billions of people worldwide use April, Earth Month, to learn about the Earth and perform small and large acts to save the environment. See what you can do at:
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