Photo by Keri Pickett
HOW AMERICA LED, LOST AND HOPES TO RECLAIM THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
What do you think of when you think of Earth Day? Is it melting glaciers and greenhouse gases? Hairy armpits and saving the whales? Democrats versus Republicans versus Gen Z?
As it turns out, how you view the biggest day in environmentalism is likely tied to when you were born, something that’s become abundantly clear this year as Earth Day celebrates its milestone 50th anniversary.
Today, Earth Day is recognized as “the largest secular observance in the world.” But what you may not know, or remember, is that it was already a phenomenon when it began back on April 22, 1970.
Despite taking place on a Wednesday, roughly 20 million Americans participated in some way to show support for greater environmental regulations during the inaugural event — a number that constituted a mind-boggling 10 percent of the population at the time.
Even though greater awareness about climate change has led to a resurgence in environmental activism, it’s hard to imagine the country as it existed at the time of the first Earth Day: U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, partnered with Congressman Pete McCloskey, a Republican from California, to kickstart a bipartisan political movement to better the environment, and thus the life of Americans, not with empty platitudes, but through “fundamental changes in the nature of the American economy.”
So what happened to the U.S.? How did we go from leading the planet on the environment to giving up that standing to countries like China and Norway?
In lieu of a time machine to travel through our country’s complicated history with the world around us, we’ve picked 50 of the most momentous events in environmentalism over the last 50 years, from the triumphant to the merely interesting to the downright tragic. We also reached out to environmental champions like author and 350.org founder Bill McKibben, Indigenous leader Winona LaDuke and actor James Cromwell to ask about the specific moments that inspired them to get involved in the fight for a habitable planet for all.
1993
28. Winona LaDuke founds Honor The Earth
“Being born Anishinaabe was my awakening to consciousness.”
— Winona LaDuke, Indigenous author, activist and speaker
In 1993, LaDuke founds Native environmental justice nonprofit Honor The Earth, of which she is currently Executive Director. She goes on to run as the vice presidential candidate for the Green Party alongside Ralph Nader in 1996 and 2000.
Check out the full article here: https://www.insidehook.com/feature/science/50-years-earth-day-american-environmentalism
