By: Sarah Pruitt

How the First Earth Day Was Born From 1960s Counterculture

On April 22, 1970, a nationwide “teach-in” inspired millions of Americans to care more about the environment.

H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock

Published: April 21, 2020

Last Updated: March 06, 2025

During the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of young Americans rejected the stable, comfortable middle-class life their parents had built in the years after World War II, driven instead by a spirit of rebellion that would leave a lasting impact on the nation.

But long hair and beards for men, tight bell-bottom blue jeans and flower crowns for women, and the widespread use of mind-altering drugs were only the most visible, and easily dismissed, signs of this ‘60s “hippie” counterculture.

Far more transformative were the radical social and political movements that many of its adherents embraced, including the civil rights movement, the movement to oppose the Vietnam War and—at the tail end of the 1960s and the outset of the 1970s—the environmental movement.

History Shorts: Earth Day's Environmental Origins

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Growing Environmental Consciousness

Rachel Carson’s bestselling book Silent Spring, published in 1962, introduced many Americans to the devastating effects of the large-scale use of pesticides, especially DDT. As the 1960s continued, more and more people became aware of other threats to the environment, such as automobile emissions, oil spills and industrial waste.

By 1967, the federal government had passed the first Clean Air Act, the first federal emissions standards and the first list of endangered species (including the bald eagle, America’s national symbol). These laws were a start, but they did not go far enough to address the serious environmental problems facing the nation.

Santa Barbara Oil Spill, 1969

Images of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California fueled outrage over environmental issues.

Vernon Merritt/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Santa Barbara Oil Spill, 1969

Images of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California fueled outrage over environmental issues.

Vernon Merritt/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

In January 1969, the Union Oil well in Santa Barbara, California spilled more than 200,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean over 11 days. That June, oil and chemicals floating on the surface of the Cuyahoga River in Ohio burst into flames. Images of such disasters, broadcast across the country, helped fuel a growing outrage over the state of the environment, especially among young radicals.

Drawing Inspiration from the Anti-War Movement

Despite this growing consciousness, environmental activists hadn’t yet come together as a true movement by the end of the 1960s, as civil rights and anti-war activists had. This lack of momentum had long frustrated Gaylord Nelson, a Democratic senator and former governor of Wisconsin (1959-63) who was one of Congress’ most passionate environmentalists. During his years in the Senate, Nelson had also backed civil rights legislation and voted against appropriating funds for the war in Vietnam.

Earth Day, 1970

This sign hung behind the bike of an activist during the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.

Denver Post/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

This sign hung behind the bike of an activist during the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.

Denver Post/Getty Images

In August 1969, Nelson traveled to California, where he spoke at a water conference and visited the scene of the Santa Barbara oil spill. On that trip, he was struck by an article he read in Ramparts magazine about the anti-war “teach-ins” held on college campuses in the mid-1960s. Though teach-ins had been abandoned as an anti-war tactic, Nelson now saw their potential to energize people—especially young people—by educating them about the need to protect the environment.

On September 20, 1969, speaking at the annual symposium of the Washington Environmental Council in Seattle, Nelson announced that he was planning a nationwide teach-in on the environment for the following spring. “I am convinced that the same concern the youth of this nation took in changing this nation’s priorities on the war in Vietnam and on civil rights can be shown for the problem of the environment,” he said.

Grassroots Action and Bipartisan Backing

To put his plan into action, Nelson reached across the aisle in Congress, recruiting the Republican congressman Pete McCloskey of California to serve as his co-chair on the steering committee behind the event. Despite his otherwise conservative views, McCloskey was a committed environmentalist who also opposed the Vietnam War.

In December 1969, Nelson hired Denis Hayes, the 25-year-old former president of the student body at Stanford University, as national coordinator of the Environmental Teach-In, as Earth Day was originally known. On a tight budget, Hayes recruited a small staff of volunteers, many of them students, to come to Washington, D.C. and coordinate Earth Day events in various regions of the country.

Thanks in large part to these committed young grassroots activists, the first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970. In New York, 250,000 people flooded Fifth Avenue, after Mayor John Lindsay agreed to bar traffic for two hours between 14th and 59th Streets, all the way up to Central Park. In Miami, supporters of Eugene McCarthy, the anti-war presidential candidate in 1968, staged a parody of the Orange Bowl parade called the “Dead Orange Parade.” As Adam Rome recounted in his book The Genius of Earth Day, one of the parade’s floats featured the Statue of Liberty wearing a gas mask, standing on a pedestal made out of garbage.

Lasting Impact of Earth Day

Earth Day, 1970

The first Earth Day celebration took place on April 22, 1970. In New York City, some 250,000 people flooded Fifth Avenue.

Santi Visalli/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

Students at Cerritos College in Norwalk, California release a large balloon during a rally celebrating the first official Earth Day.

Julian Wasser/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

A close-up of a hand holding up an Earth Day button, which reads, “Save your Earth—You can’t get off.” Though urban events made the biggest splash in the press, the true impact of Earth Day came from the more than 12,000 events scattered around the country, attended by an estimated 20 million Americans.

Lambert/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

Kurt Amuedo, a third grader at University Park Elementary in Denver, Colorado, displays poster hitting air pollution for Earth Day at school.

Ernie Leyba/The Denver Post/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

Students build a “world” of tin cans at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts for Earth Day, April 21, 1970.

Bill Ryerson/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

In Hohokus, New Jersey, Terry Seuss, 14, on Earth Day spends time cleaning up recyclable litter.

Jerry Kinstle/NY Daily News/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

College students from University of California, Irvine observe the first official Earth Day by visiting a garbage dump in a trolley car with a poster reading “Recognize the Polluter, Recognize Ourselves.”

Julian Wasser/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

Children use push brooms to sweep a New York City park on Earth Day.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

People looking at chart showing average emissions released into the atmosphere per mile of motor travel on the first official Earth Day.

Julian Wasser/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

Bicyclists wear signs on their back touting the benefits of biking over driving cars to reduce air pollution.

Denver Post/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

New Yorkers rollerskate in New York City on Earth Day, 1970.

Archive Photos/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

Peter Cohen of the University of Colorado leads 260 cyclists in the “Bike Hike.” Starting the previous weekend leading up to the first Earth Day, a small unit of student cyclists left Boulder. Others joined in Fort Collins, Greeley and Colorado Springs to arrive, along with some 200 walkers, at Denver’s Currigan Hall.

Duane Howell/The Denver Post/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

Chalk art fills the streets on Earth Day on April 20, 1970 in New York, N.Y.

Santi Visalli/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

In NYC’s Union Square, girls plant flowers on April 22, 1970

Mel Finkelstein/NY Daily News/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

A crowd of people gather in NYC near a large poster that shows a speech bubble from planet Earth that reads “Help!!”

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Earth Day, 1970

Two young people attempt to share a kiss with each other while wearing gas masks during an Earth Day pollution protest march. Earth Day’s success helped spur action in Washington on behalf of the environment. Just eight months later, Congress authorized the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the 1970s would see passage of a slew of environmental bills.

Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

Though these urban events made the biggest splash in the press, the true impact of Earth Day would come from the more than 12,000 events scattered around the country, attended by an estimated 20 million Americans. Many were held at high schools and colleges, and they featured more than 35,000 speakers, from scientists to folk singers to members of Congress, which had adjourned for the day.

Earth Day’s success helped spur long-delayed action in Washington on behalf of the environment. Just eight months later, Congress authorized the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the 1970s would see passage of a slew of environmental bills, including the Clean Air Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

At the same time, colleges across the country established environmental studies programs, aiming to harness the wave of youthful energy for the future. Environmentalism may have begun as a countercultural force, but Earth Day made it into a movement.

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About the author

Sarah Pruitt is a writer and editor based in seacoast New Hampshire. She has been a frequent contributor to History.com since 2005, and is the author of Breaking History: Vanished! (Lyons Press, 2017), which chronicles some of history's most famous disappearances.

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Citation Information

Article title
How the First Earth Day Was Born From 1960s Counterculture
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 21, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
March 06, 2025
Original Published Date
April 21, 2020

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