Earth Day 1990

A worldwide environmental demonstration commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the first Earth Day

Date April 22, 1990

Earth Day 1990 successfully raised the consciousness of millions of people around the world, but for all its benefits, it did not inspire the public to make lifestyle changes toward sustainability on a mass scale.

The first Earth Day in 1970 was the brainchild of Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson, who lamented the lack of interest in environmental issues by America’s political representatives. In September, 1969, Nelson proposed the use of teach-ins as a vehicle for building environmental awareness in the American public. He asked Stanford University graduate Denis Hayes to head up the organization of an Earth Day, with the focus on teach-ins in public places such as college campuses and labor halls. From this grassroots event, the environmental movement spread across the country; environmentalism became a household word and a powerful force in American public policy. Earth Day 1970 was catalytical for the founding of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. It was also a turning point in the national consciousness and in the lives of many people who went on to careers in environmental monitoring and protection.

Environmentalists and their organizations sought out Hayes to coordinate activities for the twentieth-anniversary celebration of Earth Day 1990. Three million dollars was budgeted for the event in the United States. From its birth two decades earlier, environmentalism was now firmly planted in the American psyche, integrated and formalized as laws and policies. It had also served as the inspiration for environmental campaigns around the world. The 1990 commemoration triggered a spontaneous response of grassroots activism international in scope. More than 200 million people in 141 countries participated in the celebration. People around the world were motivated to establish community recycling programs and to focus efforts on controlling toxic materials.

Impact

Earth Day 1990 activities inspired a host of policy changes and developments through the decade. The EPA implemented its tree-planting and tree-registration programs and worked with the American Forestry Association to promote reforestation efforts in other countries. Environmental passions were high at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, held in Rio de Janeiro. The Rio conference brought governmental and nongovernmental workers together to lay the groundwork for programs of sustainable development. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of Earth Day in 1995, the world community assessed its environmental health, particularly with regard to air and water pollution. In 2000, environmental groups worked to link five thousand environmental groups globally through the Internet, an effort uniting countless millions in more than 180 countries.

The United Nations formally celebrates Earth Day on the equinox each spring but collaborates with organizers of the global Earth Day, the Earth Day Network, to promote public activism and ecologically sound practices around the world.

Bibliography

Hayes, Denis. The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Repair. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2000.

Nelson, Gaylord, Susan M. Campbell, and Paul A. Wozniak. Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.