The founder of Earth Day was Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator (参议员). During the late 1960s, Americans experienced the unexpected side effects of high productivity of industry. Factories were giving out smoke while leaded petrol were used for vehicles, making air pollution increasingly severe.
What moved Senator Nelson to action was the 1969 massive oil spill (溢出) in California, which had killed about 3,500 sea birds, besides sea animals like dolphins and seals, causing great public anger. Inspired by the student antiwar movement at that time, Nelson found it a proper time to channel the energy of the students towards a fight for environmental protection. And the sure-fire way was through public pressure. Thus Earth Day was born in 1970, and public environmental awareness took center stage.
On 22nd April 1970, millions of Americans took to the streets to demonstrate for a sustainable environment and thousands of students marched against the worsening environment. Different groups were now working together for a shared goal ― environmental conservation and the effort became effective. The government took tougher measures and affected businesses were forced to follow standards.
As environmental issues were not just localized ones but a global concern, the year 1990 saw Earth Day reach out to many more around the world. Earth Day 1990 helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, bringing together many nations for a joint effort towards protecting the environment.
For his role as founder of Earth Day, Senator Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995), the highest honour in the USA, by then US President Clinton. We salute (致敬) the man, as the fight for cleaner environment continues.
