The First Earth Day

The idea for a national day to focus on the environment came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. 

Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes from Harvard as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land. April 22, falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, was selected as the date.

On April 22,1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. By the end of that year, the first Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.

- See more at: http://www.earthday.org/about/the-history-of-earth-day/#sthash.C8NuSPsF.dpuf

Save the Date

   

Earth Day at Union Station

This year’s Earth Day event featured almost 20 activities designed to increase knowledge about the world around us.

Throughout the two-day event, NASA scientists and educators presented amazing animations using NASA’s cutting-edge Hyperwall and guided individuals as they participated in numerous hands-on activities related to Earth processes.

Some scheduled activities and events included:

• A 3D visualization that lets you “fly along” with NASA’s Earth science missions and observe climate data from a global perspective
• A digital photo booth where you can get your face in space and leave with a cool NASA science image
• The opportunity to meet and get an autograph from a NASA astronaut on April 22

Learning from the Experts

                                   

Activities for the Day!

NASA's Eye

Kevin Hussey, one of the speakers at the event, showed us the wonders of NASA’s Eyes, which is a software tool that allows us to take a peak on either the Earth itself, the Solar System, and the Exoplanets. Due to the time constraints, Kevin Hussey was only able to showcase the Earth portion of the software.

We thus were able to take a look at our mother planet in the grand scheme of things, meaning that we were able to see how different factors have affected our planet throughout time. One of the things that struck a chord with me was the huge concentrations of Carbon Dioxide gas engulfing the earth, which has been rising every year.

Carbon Dioxide is a greenhouse gas, meaning that it stays in the atmosphere and traps the heat that the earth receives from the sun. This leads to global warming which has detrimental effects on the environment, flora and fauna. Thus, it is in our hands to take the necessary steps to reduce the amount of CO2 that we produce. One of the ways would be natural conservation and widespread plantation, which will ensure lower levels of carbon dioxide gas since trees and plants use it up as their food source.

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