In the Beginning…
In 1963, former Senator Gaylord Nelson began to worry about our planet. Senator Nelson knew that our planet was in trouble and that many of our plants and animals were dying.

He wondered why more people weren’t trying to solve these problems. He talked to other lawmakers and to President Kennedy. They decided that the President would go around the country and tell people about these concerns. He did, but still not enough people were working on the problem.

In 1969, Senator Nelson had another idea. He decided to have a special day to teach everyone about the things that needed changing in our environment. He wrote letters to all of the colleges and wrote an article in Scholastic Magazine to tell them about the special day he had planned. (Most of the schools got this magazine then and he knew that kids would help him.)

On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day was held. People all over the country made promises to help the environment. Everyone got involved and since then, Earth Day has spread all over the planet. People throughout the world know that there are problems we need to work on and this is our special day to look at the planet and see what needs changing.

One person had an idea and kept working until everyone began working together to solve it.

Jennifer Jesperson