Earth Day
By the early 1960s Americans were becoming aware of the effects
of pollution on the environment.
Rachel Carson s 1962 bestseller "Silent
Spring" raised the specter of the dangerous effects of pestisides on
America s countrysides.
Later in the...
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Earth Day
By the early 1960s Americans were becoming aware of the effects
of pollution on the environment.
Rachel Carson s 1962 bestseller "Silent
Spring" raised the specter of the dangerous effects of pestisides on
America s countrysides.
Later in the decade, a 1969 fire on Cleveland s
Cuyahoga River shed light on the problem of chemical waste disposal.
Until that time, protecting the planet s natural resources was not part of
the national political agenda, and the number of activists devoted to
large-scale issues such as industrial pollution was minimal.
Factories
pumped pollutants into the air, lakes and rivers with few legal
consequences.
Big, gas-guzzling cars were considered a sign of
prosperity.
Only a small portion of the American population was familiar
with–let alone practiced–recycling.
Elected to the U.
S.
Senate in 1962, Senator Gaylord Nelson, a
Democrat fromWisconsin, was determined to convince the federal
government that the planet was at risk.
In 1969, Nelson,
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