Earth Day
By the early 1960s Americans were becoming aware of the effects of pollution on the
environment.
Rachel Carson s 1962 bestseller "Silent Spring" raised the specter of the
dangerous effects of pestisides on America s countrysides.
Later in the...
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Earth Day
By the early 1960s Americans were becoming aware of the effects of pollution on the
environment.
Rachel Carson s 1962 bestseller "Silent Spring" raised the specter of the
dangerous effects of pestisides on America s countrysides.
Later in the decade, a 1969
fire on Cleveland s Cuyahoga River shed light on the problem of chemical waste
disposal.
Until that time, protecting the planet s natural resources was not part of the
national political agenda, and the number of activists devoted to large-scale issues such as
industrial pollution was minimal.
Factories pumped pollutants into the air, lakes and
rivers with few legal consequences.
Big, gas-guzzling cars were considered a sign of
prosperity.
Only a small portion of the American population was familiar with–let alone
practiced–recycling.
Elected to the U.
S.
Senate in 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin,
was determined to convince the federal government that the planet was at risk.
In 1969,
Nelson
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