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More Than 1B People to Celebrate Earth Day's 50th

Kenneth Schwartz

   WASHINGTON - April 22 is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, when the
   very question of whether the planet can survive emerged for the first
   time from the minds of so-called eccentrics and flower children of the
   1960s into national consciousness.

   Americans in 1970 were generally aware of the dangers of air and water
   pollution. Rachel Carson's landmark 1962 book "Silent Spring" spoke of
   the hazards posed by pesticides. Photographs of big cities, such as Los
   Angeles, shrouded in smog were seen in newspapers and magazines.

   But through the 1960s, cheap fuel, big cars with poor gas mileage, mass
   food production, and factory-produced consumer goods made life easy and
   inexpensive for American families who put the problem of pollution low
   on the list of the issues confronting the country.

   Then a January 1969 oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara,
   California, killed thousands of birds, dolphins and sea lions. And six
   months later, industrial waste floating on the water literally set
   Ohio's Cuyahoga River on fire.

   Finally, activists said they had seen enough: burning rivers and smoggy
   cities were no joke.

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