How the First Earth Day Came About
By Senator Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day

What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the questions I am most frequently asked.

Actually, the idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962. For several years, it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political "limelight" once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. I flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.

Every day is earth day, we have just forgotten, where we live....

I am going to hug a tree now! Be right back


Did you know the Brazilian nut tree lives approximately 500 years. In that time it grows these long and thick bark vines that wrap itself around the trunk of the tree and actually ends it life leaving the inside hollow.

Why does the tree kill itself I wonder?

Yet in the end one must admit living for 500 years is a long time.

Happy Earth day everyday for it is wonderful to enjoy the mysterious of nature

I'm not giving up my styrofoam cups

hey it's biodegradable. you people are just impatient