Green

Pioneer

Denis Hayes, coordinator of the first Earth Day, weighs in on where the environmental movement stands today. By BarBara tannEnBauM

On April 22, more than 1 billion people in over 170 countries around the world will celebrate the 39th annual Earth Day. The inspiration for the first Earth Day, held in 1970, came from a series of speeches by the late Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson, who urged campus activists to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in. Harvard student Denis Hayes heard the call, and soon was hired as the event coordinator. Some 20 million Americans took to the streets on April 22, 1970, launching today’s modern environmental movement. Hayes, an author, speaker, and political lobbyist in his spare time, is currently the president of the Seattle-based grant-giving Bullitt Foundation, dedicated to sustainable development.

QWhat do you see as the legacy of earth Day? A The event took place at a huge tipping point in our society. Before Earth Day, the environment did not resonate with political activists. They dismissed it as “the birds and squirrels issue.” In 1969, most Americans couldn’t give you a coherent definition of what