- Who
- Earth Day 1970
- What
- 20,000,000 people
- Where
- United States ()
- When
On 22 April 1970, the inaugural Earth Day saw an estimated 20 million people across the USA engage with environmental issues via a range of activities including protest marches, rallies, teach-in lectures and community clean-ups to name just a few. The one-day mobilization was spearheaded by peace activist John McConnell, who proposed a day to honour planet Earth in 1969, and Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin, with logistics coordinated by environmental campaigner Denis Hayes (all USA).
The first Earth Day is one the largest single-day mass mobilizations in recorded human history and is widely considered the birth of the modern environmental movement now championed by the likes of Fridays For Future popularized by climate-crisis activist Greta Thunberg.
After 1970, the next Earth Day didn't take place until two decades later in 1990. The event only became yearly in 2000.
While the original Earth Day was US-focused, today this commemoration encompasses activities in 192 countries and involves up to 1 billion people globally each year.
