The History of Earth Day

As we prepare to roll home after a delicious Earth Day luncheon, let's take a few moments out of our dessert-induced stupor to reflect on the history of Earth Day itself.

The push to recognize the need to do something to address the steadily-worsening environment was initially made as early as 1962 by Senator Gaylord Nelson. (Now there's a name you don't hear much these days.) He even got President Kennedy on board, but, unfortunately, the issue didn't really take off.

Over the next few years, Sen. Nelson drew inspiration from the anti-Vietnam "teach-ins" taking place on college campuses around the country, and had the idea to stage his own environmentally-themed teach-in. In September 1969, he announced plans for a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate.

On April 22, 1970, the event that Sen. Nelson initially called the National Environment Teach-In but was quickly dubbed Earth Day took place. On this first Earth Day, 20 million people across the U.S. participated. According to this account by Sen. Nelson:

Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.

By 1990, the 20th anniversary of Earth Day saw global participation, with over 140 countries involved. By the 30th anniversary in 2000, that number had swelled to 184 countries.

In recognition of his environmental work, Sen. Nelson was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest honor given to a civilian—in 1995. Although Nelson died in 2005 at the age of 89, he would no doubt be delighted to see that the cause he supported and tradition he began 40 years ago has been taken up so fervently by so many.

For a more thorough timeline of Earth Day history, take a look here. To learn more about the Earth Day Network, the organization that coordinates Earth Day events and helps found local Earth Day groups worldwide, check out their website.


-Kaitlen

Capturing It In Pieces

As if animals couldn't be 'funner' and educational, the Philadelphia Zoo is showing an animal exhibit titled: Creatures of Habitat: A Gazillion-Piece Animal Adventure exhibit that is made entirely out of LEGO. The artist, Sean Kenney, has spent the past year creating his 30 plus-animal ensemble with focus on endangered species like the antarctic penguins pictured above entirely out of LEGO, in the hopes of highlighting the importance of natural preservation. See the slideshow for a selection of the featured creatures.

Also learn and see more of the artist's work at his website.


-Andy

The View From Spain's Solar Power Tower

Hundreds of enormous mirrors that turn "themselves towards the sun like a field of giant metal sunflowers" allow Spain's Solar Power Tower to produce 11 megawatts of energy, enough to power a town of 6,000 homes. Valerio Fernandez, the director of operation, isn't satisfied with that accomplishment and continues to refine the tower in order to produce more energy. Check out the article online at CNN.


- Anna

After the Snow Melts

Have you checked out the Green Team's new magazine subscription to Greensource? It is full of sustainable design solution examples. Very inspiring! If you can't find our actual copy (because Andy has it at his desk), you can also check out the magazine online Greensource

The current issue has an interesting article about how the Vancouver Olympics has made strides to produce a carbon-neutral event. For example, all new competition venues are targeting minimum LEED Silver ratings. Check it out!

Anna

Friedman in the Forest

Take a look at today's New York Times op-ed column by Thomas Friedman. It concerns the Brazilian rainforest and is both depressing and hopeful. (Unfortunately, it's a bit more on the depressing side.) Still, it's interesting and certainly worth reading.

Great find, Michelle!

-Kaitlen & Vina

A Different Kind of Treehouse

This is amazing. Architect/forester Roald Gundersen builds houses using entire trees, not pieces of lumber. The resulting structures are gorgeous, and the process is so much gentler on the environment than traditional logging (or building with steel supports). Here are some of the highlights:


"According to research by the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, run by the USDA, a whole, unmilled tree can support 50 percent more weight than the largest piece of lumber milled from the same tree. So Mr. Gundersen uses small-diameter trees as rafters and framing in his airy structures, and big trees felled by wind, disease or insects as powerful columns and curving beams.

Taking small trees from a crowded stand in the forest is much like thinning carrots in a row: the remaining plants get more light, air and nutrients. Carrots grow longer and straighter; trees get bigger and healthier.

And when the trees are left whole, they sequester carbon. “For every ton of wood, a ton and a half of carbon dioxide is locked up,” he said, whereas producing a ton of steel releases two to five tons of carbon. So the more whole wood is used in place of steel, the less carbon is pumped into the air.

These passive solar structures also need very little or no supplemental heat."

Now go check out the slide show. (Nice work noticing this one, Anna!)

-Kaitlen

The Green Awards

The cover page of The L Magazine caught my eye this morning; it said, in bold letters on a vivid green background, The Green Awards. Inside was a decent little list of the greatest and greenest spots in NYC.

As an added bonus, The L Magazine website also features a really interesting article about the trend toward eco-friendly burial. It's not something most people think about, but...well, it does happen to everyone sooner or later.

So as to not end on such a morbid note, here's a picture of what has to be one of the world's cutest baby bunnies.

-Kaitlen

In the Dumps

Good news, everyone! (Yes, you're supposed to read that in Professor Farnsworth's voice. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, go watch some Futurama immediately!) Today's New York Times contains an article about that most pressing of dilemmas—how to safely dispose of unwanted electronics.

Sounds like the time is indeed ripe for that 4th bin, huh?

-Kaitlen

Challenge: Meat-Free Weekdays

How's this for a challenge? Per TreeHugger's suggestion, try eliminating meat from your weekday diet. If enough of us went weekday-vegetarian, we could reduce climate change mitigation costs by up to 70 percent. That's worth saving meat for the weekends, isn't it? Also, in this economy, think of all the money you'd save by not buying meat most days!

-Kaitlen

Vacation Nation

We all love our vacation days, but fabulous trips to far-off lands aren't always in the cards. The economy is tanking...and let's face it—travel (especially by plane) is often an environmentally unfriendly option.

However, check out organizations like Ecovolunteer. It's essentially a travel agency for volunteers interested in conservation; you can choose by locale you'd like to visit or species you'd like to work with. It sounds like a fair mix of work and play, plus the chance for some up-close interaction with rare and/or endangered animals. (I vote for hanging with the river otters in Brazil!)

-Kaitlen

Let the Greening Begin!

Welcome to Greenspace, the blog about all things green. While this is targeted, of course, toward Two Twelve employees, all are welcome. Have suggestions/links/useful info? Contact one of the Green Team members and we'll whip up a post. Here's to keeping the planet a vibrant, viable home for ourselves and future generations!

-Kaitlen