The inaugural Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970 and much has changed in the four plus decades of celebration since. Intended as a "teach in" to infuse the spirit of the fractious sixties into the nascent environmental movement, what transpired was Earth Day, the greatest nationwide street demonstration since the end of WW 2. The intent was to get the "movement" moving, which it did.

The most immediate aftermath of April 22, 1970 took place in the law books. A tougher Clean Air Act cleared Congress that year, to be followed by a Clean Water Act, a Marine Mammal Protection Act, an Endangered Species Act, a Safe Drinking Water Act, and a Toxic Substances Control Act, among scores of others. By years end even the skeptics began to concede that the fallout from Earth Day would be felt for years to come.

The long term aftermath was more subtle. Fears of early organizers that initial enthusuasm would fade were unfounded. Earth Day jump-started a movement which evolved over time into a mind-set. Environmentalism is now more a way of life than a "movement," its jargon woven into the national vocabulary, its practice part of our culture. Surveys show that 90% of Americans consider themselves environmentalists. Earth Day has taught us what our native brethren knew intuitively. As Chief Seattle so eloquently stated: "The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. This we know."