Science News - Environment. Air Pollution - News - Science. Earth Day News. Gordon M. Grant for The New York Times Updated: April 22, 2010 Nearly 20 million Americans attended the first Earth Day celebration on April 22, 1970, to this day among the most participatory political actions in the nation's history. In the decades since, Earth Day has spread across the globe with thousands of events in more than 180 countries.
In the beginning, the event influenced environmental politics, triggering such national legislation as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. So strong was the antibusiness sentiment for the first Earth Day in 1970 that organizers took no money from corporations and held teach-ins "to challenge corporate and government leaders. " While the 40th anniversary of Earth Day was widely marked with events in April 2010, including a climate rally on the Mall in Washington, the movement does not appear to have the same kind of support it had four decades ago. Endangered and Extinct Species - News - Times Topics. Greenhouse Gas Emissions News.
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