EARTH DAY 2000
More than 500 million people worldwide participated in events all over the globe as EARTH DAY 2000 was celebrated The organizers of the first EARTH DAY some thirty years ago could not have envisioned all this. Locally some 1300 people came to Hazel Bazemore Park on the outskirts of the city to enjoy the various displays and events. People could go on the river in non-motorized boats, take a bird walk, climb a high wall, walk a rope bridge and so forth. A great time was had by all.
The very first EARTH DAY came about as a result of a proposal by then Senator Gaylord Nelson (Wisconsin) to hold a nationwide "Environmental Teach-In" on college campuses across America. Locally we held such an event with a rally and seminar at the Navel Air Station. Not too many attended, but it was a real beginning. The national EARTH DAY organizer was Denis Hayes.
Twenty years later, EARTH DAY 1990 was a big event all across America and was taken worldwide to a global audience. More than 200 million people came together at events in 141 countries. Locally we held a big celebration at the Water Garden and many local citizens attended to learn about ecological issues of importance to them here.
EARTH DAY 2000, once again steered by Gaylord Nelson and Dennis Hayes, combined the original vision of EARTH DAY 1970 with the international grassroots concerns of today. These include global warming, air pollution, urban sprawl and so forth. This year energy conservation was the big thing and alternative sources of energy were demonstrated. Here we emphasized recreational activities which were not high energy users.
The American Heritage magazine called the original EARTH DAY in 1970 "one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy…American politics and public policy would never be the same again." And locally this has been true. While the original celebration was attended by relatively few people, those people were able to galvanize the pubic to concern for their city and bay environment.
Here at the April 22 celebration, environmental groups and agencies had display booths and demonstrations and various others had demonstrations of oil spill response, life guard exercises, and so forth.
Gaylord Nelson is now 83 and continues to work full time, focusing on issues involving wilderness, sustainable resource use, and U.S. population growth. Like its creator, EARTH DAY has had a remarkable staying power. "I certainly would never have predicted that three decades later we would still be marking EARTH DAY every April and that it would have become an international event."
MAKE EVERYDAY EARTH DAY.
Pat Suter