Five Cool Facts About the History of Earth Day
Since 1970, Earth Day has brought people from around the world to celebrate our planet and encourage positive environmental actions.
As Earth Day nears, my conservation focused brain begins to wonder about the best way to honor this important day I celebrate and honor with activism every year. One way I do this is to annually share a blog specific to Earth Day. When we understand something, we can then find space to care, further inform ourselves and be curious, and then take action.
This year, I think it’s important to remember how we got here regarding Earth Day, how it all started. To do that, I’ve compiled a list of 5 Cool Facts I hope to help you navigate where we can put our personal resources, time and energy to support collective action to love and protect our home.
The Positive Impacts of Earth Day
Earth Day isn’t merely a holiday and day on the calendar, the day became a nonprofit organization, the largest in existence working to recruit people to drive positive action for the earth. Learn more about the Earth Day Network, earthday.org here. As of 2021, Charity Navigator gave the Earth Day Network a total 4 stars (out of 4 stars), which means the organization has received the highest rating for donors to give with confidence when donating to charitable organizations. Their ratings are based on factors including leadership, responsible use of funding, effective spending and adaptability.
The most recent available statistics show that over $3.3 million supports programming which is 75.7% of the organization’s total budget – a whopping percentage to support this important day and create positive impact! Not only are funds going to support programming but since the world’s first earth day in 1970, 1 billion people have been mobilized with over 150,000 partner collaborations taking positive action to support the environmental movement in over 192 countries.
Earth Day has driven much change since its inception in 1970, from driving public opinion about environmental issues to being instrumental in changing policies and regulations to creating specific environment-focused federal agencies and departments such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As of 2020, the federal government spent $40.9 billion or 0.6% of all federal expenditures on the environment and natural resources, which doesn’t include renewable energy spending. As of 2019, states and local governments have spent more in total than the federal government, a whopping $67.7 billion.
Who founded Earth Day?
In 1970, Earth Day was held on April 22nd, founded by the junior Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson. Senator Nelson wanted to raise awareness of environmental challenges and had lived through decades of witnessing America nonchalantly consume and harm the environment. Consumption yielded air pollution and smog from leaded gas from inefficient vehicles and smoke and sludge from industry and factories, all of which were detrimental to public health.
Senator Nelson saw the destruction from the massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, and persuaded Paul Norton, known as Pete McClosky, Jr., a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to be his co-chair for the first Earth Day. Prior successes with engaging and activating college students led Senator Nelson to recruit an activist, Denis Hayes, to scale engagement from campuses to the general public. Nationwide teach-ins were organized on college campuses with April 22nd being the chosen day for a number of factors, from good spring weather to yielding higher student participation, with the day falling between Spring Break and final exams.
Earth Day is the largest secular day of protest in the world
The purpose of establishing Earth Day was to empower people to act and harness the collective power of organized people in support of the environment. The day has no affiliation with the church or a specific religion and is inclusive of all people because we all inhabit and call the earth our home.
The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency as well as other rules and regulations that were the first of their kind regarding their environmental focus, including the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later, in 1972, congress passed the Clean Water Act.
Earth Day has a new theme every year
Not every holiday is as special as Earth Day! Earth Day has its own flag and a new theme every year. The Earth Day flag features a photo of the Earth taken from space. While the day was founded in 1970, it took the next two decades for the movement to spread globally. By 1990, Earth Day was considered a global initiative with environmental awareness and action being taken worldwide inspired by a new theme every year. The theme for Earth Day 2025 is "Our Power, Our Planet". The goal is to triple the global generation of clean electricity by 2030 and urge people around the world to unite around renewable energy.
What makes Earth Day supremely special and stand out?
The first Earth Day was celebrated in the United States. After 150 years of industrial development and what was seen as progress, 20 million Americans mobilized, sparking national media attention and capturing the hearts of Americans enough where the day has continued ever since – 2020 was Earth Day’s 50th Anniversary.
Denis Hayes, mentioned previously, grew a national team starting with only himself, to support the first Earth Day with 85 people on staff. Efforts grew and the scope expanded to include diverse organizations, faith groups, and people from all walks of life. Uniquely, the country was poised for alignment since many of these organizations and groups had been working to fight environmental challenges such as oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, pesticides, the loss of wilderness and growing number of endangered species, toxic dumps, and growing number of freeways.
Earth Day has allowed people to find common ground and unite around shared values. One can argue that no other single event has allowed for this kind of political alignment of people from both sides of the aisle, different economic statuses, rural and urban, and business and labor – it’s rare and what makes Earth Day a truly special day. Looking for a way to celebrate? Check out the Earth Day Event Map.
Bonus: I made a cool Earth Day phone wallpaper that you can download and use for free!
I’m Margo! A graphic designer who works with conservation-minded nonprofits and brands on projects like logos and branding, annual reports, maps, and infographics. I work with clients to create beautiful, meaningful designs that amplify the marketing efforts to ignite action and change. Visit my portfolio to see a sample of projects I’ve collaborated on to protect the environment.