Earth Day acts as a celebration of the inhabitable planet that provides life for billions; the cover of lush forests, dazzling beaches, and vibrant landscapes, as well as the steps to protect them, are recognized during the annual observance. This past Tuesday marked the fifty-fourth Earth Day celebration, but Connie Lezenby still recalls the first.
The year 1970 was the year of the nation’s first Earth Day, and it was also the year Lezenby was a sixteen year old attending Wissahickon High School. In thrifted pink Corduroy bell bottom pants- the first year she recalls being allowed to wear pants to school-, singing folk songs, and admiring Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, Lezenby started to take part in the conversation arising about the closer look into the changes society was calling for.
The Vietnam War was at the forefront of the nation’s issues at the time, sparking a debate between older and younger generations, citizens and government. It was especially the young hippies, blooming a subculture based around peace efforts, that opposed the war, and as talks of change arose further, society was being re-examined. Watching each night for wartime news in reports and magazine covers was an entire nation, including Lezenby. Watching in real time another nation being destroyed with chemical warfare and destructive fire, people began to take a look at the environment at home in the States.
“I was not yet aware of climate change at the time. It was known among scientists that that was happening to our planet, but there wasn’t a lot written about it. I think it was kind of in the background that, in about 100 years, the Earth will be too hot or something like that. It seemed far off.”
“I know scientists were already aware that the water was not clean, the air was polluted, there was smog, the birds were dying from DDT. People just used to throw trash out the windows, like if you were eating something in the car you just threw it out. They knew all these things, but then people started publishing books that we could read. It was gradually emerging that things were wrong and we could change them if we all worked together,” Lezenby recalled. “It really was people in their thirties, twenties, and teenagers that were thinking about this and bringing up new ideas and wanting to do new things.”
Among these people was sixteen year old Lezenby, becoming familiar with the hippie culture and wanting to be a part of it all. Becoming aware of the world around them, the younger generations were beginning to concern themselves with flaws in the environment, racism, classism, and sexism.
“There wasn’t actually any environmental club at the time, but we definitely talked about it. I read about it. I read Silent Spring, got mad about it, and I was really interested in things like solar power.”
As research became more openly available and the public- not just the scientists working towards studies- was able to understand the flaws in the environment around them, the more protests and movements began to take place.
“I think that because I was trying to be part of this subculture, the more I cared about it. There’s things like communes that hippies were joining, and they were working together and doing these farming techniques to grow more organic food, so that I was all aware of that. Kids who graduated were doing things like that, and it got back to us. I also had parents that were very active, and they were activists and would go to protests, too,” Lezenby said.
The culmination of more readily available education and research, a time period that called for reform and closer examination of society, and an arising subculture of young people involving themselves and gaining a voice led to what would be the first Earth day celebration. Young advocates and activists worked to push out flyers, newspaper articles, and magazines ahead of the observance, and with hard work spread the message around the country. On the government level, Senator Gaylord Nelson, inspired by the activism already taking place in the nation, recruited activist Denis Hayes and combined efforts to spread awareness about the environment. Coming together at the peak, April 22, 1970, marked a nation-wide educational event, now recognized as Earth Day.
Across the country that day, millions would celebrate and observe. Lezenby’s school recognized that, amongst the event’s publicization, a large group of students wanted to take part, and gave permission for them to attend for the day. For Lezenby, that would mark the first large rally she would attend, and it became one to remember.
“There was a whole group of friends that I was with on a field overlooking Philadelphia. They had a giant stage, and they had groups playing different music, they had speakers talking about how we have to stop pollution and all these different things. It was very peaceful and a lot of fun.”
“It sent a really good message back in the day. We always felt that the government was listening if you could get enough people out there. With any protest, you felt like you made a difference. They set up the EPA, set up the Clean Air and Water acts. Plus, we got the vote to age 18 as opposed to 21. We had some political power. We did feel powerful, and we felt like we had great ideas, that all these ideas are going to change the world and they’re going to make it so much better, and it did. All of those regulations have been incredibly important,” Lezenby said.
Though widely celebrated, opposition for the event came from older generations, resistant to changing times. Against any form of tax raises, and holding on to “what they would call their freedoms to throw their cigarette butts out the windows,” Lezenby said, some remained stubborn against environmentalism. Still, through education and advocacy, the public began to gain an understanding of the importance around protecting the planet and Earth Day marked a mass spreading of environmental knowledge.
Where the most education and change begins is locally, beginning with convincing the immediate community’s populations, starting even at a familial level, that environmental sustainability and action are dire.
“What we did was talk to our parents and show them what we’re reading, what we’re finding out, and the new information. Getting parents on board is really crucial because then they influence their friends, their neighbors. That then creeps through the generations. The hard work really comes from convincing the local population. That’s the biggest place that’s happening, especially when it’s being destroyed at the federal level. Change happens when the public and the government work together with industry to make changes that we need to make. That’s all we can do, and that’s why people are pouring their energy into it,” Lezenby explained.
“We can’t wait any longer. We have to change now,” Lezenby said, recalling a protest she attended in Washington D.C. “There were like a million people walking. We walked for miles and we had these big signs, and the scientists were there. If you weren’t going to be moved by that, you are never going to be moved by anything. One of the things we have to do when you don’t have a voice is to stand there and share your signs and try to get the press to look at you.”
Lezenby knows all about educating and convincing local populations on environmental action as a Lansdale Environmental Advisory Commision member. Years of hard work led to passing a clean energy resolution, staying true to her own advice of starting to make change locally. In addition to this, Lezenby’s career as an architect also draws her closer to environmental concerns and sciences, requiring knowledge on energy efficiency and passing environment-related code in designs.
In the fifty-four years that have passed since the first Earth Day, knowledge has become increasingly more available and environmental conservation is more common. Awareness of issues such as climate change, and groups like environmental clubs that those at the beginning of environmental revolutions did not have access to, are all much more bountiful. Earth Day serves as not only a celebration of the planet, but how far environmental education has come in the years since it was first observed.
“We’ve come a long way, and when I was thinking back to those times and all of the trash, it was just everywhere. It was a big deal to stop people from throwing trash and passing all those ordinances. Streams were filled with trash, and they were so polluted, you would never swim in anything. People are much more respectful of the environment now. Revolutions are going on underground,” Lezenby said. “We’ve come a long way, and we can’t forget that.”
