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| Denis Hayes, Stanford University graduate and national coordinator for the first Earth Day, at Washington, DC headquarters, April 22, 1970 Courtesy of earthday2013funphotos.com |
“April 22 seeks a future worth living.”
—Earth Day organizers’ manifesto, New York Times, 1970
Forty-six years ago—April 22, 1970—more than 20 million people
around the country gathered to demonstrate a growing awareness of environmental
abuses. An outgrowth of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s, the nationwide
event known as Earth Day sparked the passage of landmark environmental laws,
including the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1972), and the Endangered
Species Act (1973), as well as the establishment of the United States
Environmental Protections Agency (1970).
Today the California Historical Society observes Earth Day
with a photograph from our collection that influenced the outcome of the first
environmental legislation in California and the American West.