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    History: Presidential Medal of Freedom

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    Aayush Athavale
    Nelson, inspired by an oil spill, organized the first Earth Day in 1970 as a national teach-in about environmental issues. Over 20 million Americans participated in protests and discussions across the country. Earth Day continued to grow internationally in subsequent decades, with hundreds of millions of people participating globally by 2000. Though Earth Day has become mainstream, recent surveys show that fewer Americans now prioritize environmental protection over energy production and many believe climate change risks are exaggerated.

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    History: Presidential Medal of Freedom

    Uploaded by

    Aayush Athavale
    17 views1 page
    Nelson, inspired by an oil spill, organized the first Earth Day in 1970 as a national teach-in about environmental issues. Over 20 million Americans participated in protests and discussions across the country. Earth Day continued to grow internationally in subsequent decades, with hundreds of millions of people participating globally by 2000. Though Earth Day has become mainstream, recent surveys show that fewer Americans now prioritize environmental protection over energy production and many believe climate change risks are exaggerated.

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    Nelson, inspired by an oil spill, organized the first Earth Day in 1970 as a national teach-in about environmental issues. Over 20 million Americans participated in protests and discussions across the country. Earth Day continued to grow internationally in subsequent decades, with hundreds of millions of people participating globally by 2000. Though Earth Day has become mainstream, recent surveys show that fewer Americans now prioritize environmental protection over energy production and many believe climate change risks are exaggerated.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    17 views1 page

    History: Presidential Medal of Freedom

    Uploaded by

    Aayush Athavale
    Nelson, inspired by an oil spill, organized the first Earth Day in 1970 as a national teach-in about environmental issues. Over 20 million Americans participated in protests and discussions across the country. Earth Day continued to grow internationally in subsequent decades, with hundreds of millions of people participating globally by 2000. Though Earth Day has become mainstream, recent surveys show that fewer Americans now prioritize environmental protection over energy production and many believe climate change risks are exaggerated.

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    History

    The first Earth Day was in 1970. Nelson, after seeing the damage done by a 1969
    massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, was inspired to organize a national "teachin" that focused on educating the public about the environment.
    Nelson recruited Denis Hayes, a politically active recent graduate of Stanford University,
    as national coordinator, and persuaded U.S. Rep. Pete McCloskey of California to be
    co-chairman. With a staff of 85, they were able to rally 20 million people across the
    United States on April 20, 1970. Universities held protests, and people gathered in
    public areas to talk about the environment and find ways to defend the planet.In 1995,
    President Bill Clinton awarded Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom for being the
    founder of Earth Day. This is the highest honor given to civilians in the United States.

    Modern Earth Day


    Earth Day continued to grow over the years. In 1990, it went global, and 200 million
    people in 141 countries participated in the event, according to the Earth Day Network.
    Earth Day 2000 included 5,000 environmental groups and 184 countries. Hayes
    organized a campaign that focused on global warming and clean energy. "The world's
    leaders in Kyoto, Japan, in late 1997, acknowledged the scientific fact that the leading
    cause of global warming is carbon emissions from fossil-fuel consumption, and that
    something must be done to address those rising emissions," Hayes told National
    Geographic.
    In 2010, for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, 225,000 people gathered at the National
    Mall for a climate rally. Earth Day Network launched a campaign to plant 1 billion trees,
    which was achieved in 2012, according to the organization.

    The impact of Earth Day


    Although Earth Day has become mainstream, surveys show that environmentalism may
    be stumbling. According to recent Gallup polls, 42 percent of Americans believe that
    the dangers of climate change are exaggerated, and less than half say that protection of
    the environmentshould be given priority over energy production.

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