How Earth Day’s roots still shape 2025’s goals

Earth Day turns 55 on Tuesday with a new mission: Unite for renewable power

Every April 22, millions around the world come together for Earth Day—a global call to protect the planet that began in 1970 and has grown into one of the largest environmental movements on Earth.

What started as a single day of awareness has deep roots in a growing sense of environmental urgency that swept the United States in the late 1960s. Long before Earth Day became a global event, the country was grappling with the visible consequences of pollution and industrial expansion—issues that galvanized a new generation of environmental advocates.

By the end of the 1960s, the effects of unchecked industrial growth in the United States had become impossible to ignore—smog blanketed cities, rivers caught fire and wildlife populations were in decline. It was a turning point, said Earth Day Network President Kathleen Rogers.

“We began to see a giant wave of environmental damage [that] accelerated in the 1960s,” Rogers said. The country, she explained, was starting to grapple with the consequences of decades of industrial development that had begun nearly 70 years earlier, during the rise of the Industrial Revolution.

“Those changes included rivers literally catching on fire because boats would discharge oil and gas into the harbors and industrial facilities built along harbors and waterways were processing fuel,” she added.

River fires were not uncommon throughout the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The industrial waste-polluted Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, reportedly ignited at least 13 times, and rivers in cities including Philadelphia, Baltimore and Detroit had also burst into flames, according to the Washington Post.

By the late 1960s, the environmental toll of industrial pollution was reaching a breaking point.

“Chemical plants were dumping into our waters,” Rogers told AccuWeather. “We began to see enormous numbers of birth defects, as well as a decline in our species, including the bald eagle, which was reduced to very small numbers.”

The damage was becoming undeniable, and Rogers said it was clear that major change was urgently needed.

One of the most dramatic wake-up calls came in January 1969, when a blowout at an offshore oil rig sent more than 3 million gallons of crude gushing into the Santa Barbara Channel. The spill created a 35-mile-long slick along the Southern California coast, coating beaches in oil and killing thousands of sea mammals, birds and fish, according to the Los Angeles Times. At the time, it was the largest oil spill ever recorded off the U.S. coastline.

“People were appalled by the lack of immediate response and the inability to respond," Rogers said. "It created a wave of interest."

That frustration wasn’t limited to the coastline. Across the country, Americans were grappling with smog-choked skies, toxic air and the visible impacts of industrial pollution. The environmental crisis was no longer abstract—it was something people could see, smell and feel in their own communities.

"Air in major American cities was as polluted then as it is in New Delhi and São Paulo today," Earth Day co-founder Denis Hayes told AccuWeather.

The oil spill, combined with a growing public awareness of water and air pollution, helped spark political action. Wisconsin native and U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson saw an opportunity to bring environmental issues to the forefront of national conversation.

Looking to harness the energy of the student anti-war movement, Nelson proposed a nationwide “teach-in” focused on the environment. With the help of passionate college students—including Denis Hayes, then a graduate student at Harvard—plans for the first Earth Day began to take shape in the fall of 1969.

Because it falls between spring break and the final exam period, April 22 was the chosen date, according to EarthDay.org.

“Nelson gathered lots of people, and it started to look like this might be similar to a youth movement, but very soon, it turned into a middle-class movement,” Rogers said. “By Earth Day 1970, we had over 20 million people out on the streets [nationwide].”

In addition to other demonstrations and rallies hosted across the country, thousands of colleges and universities protested the environment’s deterioration due to impacts from oil spills, toxic dumps and power plant pollution.

“It was a giant wake-up call for Congress and then-president Richard Nixon,” Rogers said. “Within a couple months of the first Earth Day, he created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”

The EPA formed on Dec. 2, 1970. The environmental movement also led to the passing of the Endangered Species, Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.

“The most important thing that Earth Day represents is a bright line between the old and new environmental movements,” Rogers said.

While the previous movement focused mainly on national parks and conserving species for hunting, the focus shifted to health concerns.

“That’s what Earth Day represents: health for the planet,” she said. “It’s about the extraordinary impact that the industrial development had on the population. It had been going on for decades, but it wasn’t until Earth Day that people felt empowered to do something about it."

Earth Day today

What began as a grassroots effort in the United States quickly grew into a global movement. By 1990, Earth Day had gone international, mobilizing hundreds of millions of people across the planet. Today, it’s recognized as the largest secular observance in the world, with more than 1 billion participants taking part in events and actions every year.

"The recognition is really important,” said Kathryn Kellogg, consultant and public speaker behind the Going Zero Waste blog. “When people come together and use their voice for positive impact, it's very powerful."

The heart of Earth Day has always been about mobilizing people to care for the places they live—and that mission continues in 2025. This year’s theme, OUR POWER, OUR PLANET, calls on communities around the world to come together and demand a shift to renewable energy, with the goal of tripling clean electricity by 2030.

“The definition of the word ‘environment’ is what surrounds you,” Rogers said. “If what’s around you stinks and is dirty with lousy water and bad air quality, that’s your environment.” Her message is simple: If your bus stops aren’t clean, if your parks are neglected, if your neighborhood doesn’t get the same care as others—that’s what we have to fix.

The Earth Day Network continues to focus on issues like reforestation, plastic pollution and protecting endangered species—but this year, the power is in the people. You can join Earth Action Day by organizing, educating or simply showing up. Whether you host an event, share resources online or take a quiz to learn more, Earth Day 2025 is about stepping up—together.

Find or create an event, take action and make Earth Day, April 22, count.

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