The first Earth Day took place fifty years ago, so most people don’t remember how it happened or what it accomplished. It’s time for a look back. Lots of people alive today aren’t even old enough to remember the first Earth Day, celebrated on April 22, 1970—fifty years ago. At a time when the Sunrise Movement and the Green New Deal seem to electrify young activists, a look back at the first Earth Day can show how environmentalism came to matter to so many people. The historian Adam Rome argues that Earth Day was tremendously influential and catalytic, but that its history isn’t at all well known: He calls it the “most famous little-known event in modern U.S. history.” “Earth Day was not just one event, and—despite the name—Earth Day did not happen only on April 22, 1970.” That Earth Day, writes Rome, dwarfed other mass events from the 1960s, including demonstrations for civil rights, feminism, and peace. “Earth Day was not just one event, and—despite the name—Earth Day did not happen only on April 22, 1970,” he explains. “In many places, the events lasted a week. A more accurate name would be Earth Spring[.]” In his book on the events, Rome also argues that Earth Day gave birth to the “first green generation.” To view the full article visit the JSTOR Daily.
