Americans celebrated the first Earth Day Festival which was actually more of a demonstration on April 22, 1970. At that time, people didn’t understand a toxic environment directly affects our health and longevity. Most had no idea they were absorbing environmental toxicity through their skin, breath, and food. But the first Earth Day Festival began to bring that awareness to light. A budding consciousness of toxic drinking water, air pollution and the effects of pesticides became clarion calls to millions. They heard the call, followed through and demonstrated.
Abuse of the environment without conscience provoked the first Earth Day Festival.
It was San Francisco activist John McConnell and Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson who backed the first Earth Day grassroots demonstration. They inspired participants to want to improve, protect and save an environment becoming more and polluted and disrespected every day.
Americans of the 60s thought of the environment in terms of conservation of parks and recreational areas. They only started embracing the more robust concept of ‘environment’ near the end of the decade.
Before 1970, an American factory could legally pump black clouds of toxic smoke into the air. They could dump unchecked quantities of chemical toxic waste into streams and rivers without consequence. There were no EPA and no Clean Air or Clean Water Acts at the time. American industry could liberally abuse the environment without any oversight.
Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson was Earth Day’s founder. Nelson wanted to get people talking more about the environment. He raised public awareness of environmental issues by launching a non-profit, non-partisan organization called Environmental Teach-In, Inc. And he modeled the organization after the now historic anti-war teach-ins of the day.
“In the waning months of the 1960s, environmental problems were proliferating like a many-headed hydra, a monster no one could understand let alone tame or slay. Rampant air pollution was linked to disease and death in New York, Los Angeles, and elsewhere as noxious fumes, spewed out by cars and factories, made city life less and less bearable. In the wake of Rachel Carson’s 1962 bestseller, ‘Silent Spring,’ there was widespread concern over large-scale use of pesticides, often near densely populated communities. ”
Many environmental issues that initiated the first Earth Day Festival still exist today.
Unfortunately, we’re still bombarded with a toxic environment to this day. Some of the delivery methods of toxins to our physical bodies have shifted. Technology created new ones like electromagnetic fields (EMFs). But very many have remained the same.
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Earth doesn’t just apply to the Earth itself. It applies to one of the energies of the five elements we all embody as a physical and emotional person.
You could be what TCM calls an Earth type person. (We all embody the energies of the five elements but one will often be more dominant than the others.) If you’re an out-of-balance Earth type you might have the Earth skin condition. This condition shows up as enlarged pores, acne and blemishes in your skin. Your lymph flow might be sluggish.
When the body can’t pump out toxins through good lymph and blood circulation, it shows up all over the body. And the first unpleasant signs always show up in skin.
PHYTO5’s Earth element line of skincare is very Earth reverent. We work with the energies of Earth’s five elements. Careful curation of the highest quality plant-based ingredients create the foundation of every product we make.
Add to these famed Swiss precision and the loving care we put into our products as we fill many of them by hand. In respect for the Earth, we pay close attention to eco-friendly, sustainable, and the environment. Pure water from gorges near to our Swiss factory are unique to PHYTO5 skincare. And we harvest certain flowers grown in our factory’s immediate area and create flower waters to use in our skincare.
In the spirit of Earth Day where purity is held high, Earth skincare is formulated to normalize skin. It works to support the flushing of toxins.
Earth type personalities tend to love and reverence the Earth. Earth Day Festivals are big for the Earth type personality.
If you’re an Earth type, you probably love things earthy and organic. Animals and gardening are probably important to you and so are your relationships. And you’re probably very grounded mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
To read more all about yourself if you’re an Earth type personality, read our blog, The Earth Type Personality: Understanding Your Archetype for Harmony and Balance.
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Let’s return to the story of the first Earth Day Festival.
25-year old Denis Hayes, the dynamic former President of the Stanford student body became national coordinator of Environmental Teach-In. He immediately got to work making plans for the inaugural Earth Day Festival.
Hayes had only $190,000 to work with—an extremely limited budget. So he rented a humble office in Washington and gathered an enthusiastic cadre of volunteers. Many of the volunteers were students.
With some of the $190,000, Hayes purchased a full-page ad in the New York Times in early February 1970. And it proved to be a stroke of genius.
The ad announced citizens would demonstrate for a cleaner environment at locations throughout the U.S. on April 22, 1970. Contributions immediately started pouring in.
The ad aroused the curiosity of major news organizations. And the New York Times and Washington Post gave front-page coverage to Earth Day the day before the event.
Television networks followed suit. They reported about it in a way that created the aura of a national holiday.
The first Earth Day Festival was a resounding success.
“On Earth Day in 1970… twenty million Americans–10 percent of our population–… demanded that our political leaders return to our people the ancient environmental rights taken from our citizens during the previous eighty years. Motivated by that extraordinary show of grassroots power, Republicans and Democrats working together passed twenty-eight major laws over the next ten years, to protect our air, water, endangered species, wetlands, and food supply. Those laws, in turn, became the model for over 150 nations that had their own versions of Earth Day and started making their own investments in their environmental infrastructure.”
“To countless participants, Earth Day was a turning point in their lives, which they remember to this day with awe and reverence. ‘It was something magical and catalytical,’ remarked Denis Hayes, ‘touching a huge cross-section of Americans.’ ‘A charmed event,’ ‘a joyous occasion,’ ‘a public-relations masterpiece,’ ‘foundation of a national environmental consciousness’ were words of praise conjured by participants.”
That year in December Congress authorized the creation of a new federal agency to tackle environmental issues. They named it the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And with the new EPA the environmental movement entered a new phase.
When is Earth Day celebrated and why?
Earth Day Festivals are always celebrated on April 22 of every year.
Founder Senator Nelson knew he needed the idealism of college students to carry the first Earth Day festival. So he chose April 22 because it fit well between Spring break and final exams.
Little did Nelson know that Earth Day April 22 every year falls just five days into what TCM calls the Earth season.
Earth is one of four 18-day periods that fall in-between the seasons of Spring (Wood), Summer (Fire), Fall (Metal) and Winter (Water). The Earth element in TCM corresponds to these four periods of the year that create ‘bridges’ or transitions as we go from one energetic season to another.
It’s incredibly appropriate that Earth Day Festivals around the world are celebrated during traditional Chinese medicine’s Earth season. The energy of the season encourages what Earth Day Festivals are all about.
“Earth Day continues to be a momentous and unifying day each and every year. We look forward to being a part of this historic climate summit and making active progress to Restore Our Earth.”
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Endnotes
Image courtesy of Michelle Henderson at Unsplash
Nelson, Gaylord, et al. Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise. University of Wisconsin Press, 2012.
“The Spirit of the First Earth Day.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 16 Sept. 2016, archive.epa.gov/epa/aboutepa/spirit-first-earth-day.html.