Last Wednesday was Earth Day.\u00a0So how did Earth Day get started?<\/p>\n
Senator Gaylord Nelson was a senator from Wisconsin who was\u00a0interested\u00a0in conservation.\u00a0 He was inspired by Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring.:\u00a0 He was also inspired by an oil spill on the Santa Barbara River in January, 1969, a fire on the Cuyahoga River in\u00a0Cleveland,\u00a0and the activism of the 1960s and\u00a0’70s. \u00a0The\u00a0fire on the Cuyahoga River was caused by industrial oil and debris in the water.<\/p>\n
Nelson\u00a0championed a\u00a0nationwide \u201cteach-in\u201d focused on environmental issues.\u00a0His tireless efforts in association with activist Dennis Hayes led to the celebration of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. About 20 million Americans attended rallies, events, and took part in demonstrations. This nationwide outpouring of support led to \u00a0important environmental legislation to include the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, the passage of the Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act.<\/p>\n
Up until the passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, companies faced little or no consequences for polluting the environment. After these two laws were passed, companies faced serious consequences for acts of pollution.<\/p>\n
Now Earth Day is a day for us to remember and think of things to do about Global warming, recycling, plastic\u00a0pollution,\u00a0and many other\u00a0ways\u00a0to take care of our planet.<\/p>\n
What can we do to help?\u00a0\u00a0We can recycle, clean up our community, advocate and support environmental laws, plant more pollinator friendly plants (did you know that over 1\/3 of our food requires pollination and 75% of our flowers require pollination), and, whenever possible, buy local (food grown in other places requires massive amounts of fossil fuels to ship).<\/p>\n
Let’s take care of our planet.\u00a0 It’s the only one we’ve got.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"