ECO LOGIC - Earth Day and New York City
By Madeleine Dale, Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker, West Side Office
Did you know that Earth Day is the largest secular holiday in the world and is deeply rooted in NYC? Originally proposed at a UNESCO conference in 1969 to honor world peace, US Senator and Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson co-opted the idea, shifted the date to April 22 and changed the focus to environmental conservation. An activist hired by Nelson, Denis Hayes inspired a group of Columbia University students with a mission. The enthusiastic New Yorkers rented an office, recruited volunteers, coordinated with other cities and convinced Mayor Lindsay to shut down Fifth Avenue and open Central Park. According to a Time Magazine report appearing May 4, 1970, “Fifth Avenue was closed to traffic for two hours. 100,000 New Yorkers marched up and down in an eerie quiet silence.” While Time covered the doomsday angle, the national networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) televised coverage of 1 million people celebrating in Central Park - festive and faddish – that imprinted cultural memory. Denis Hayes, recognized as the founder of the Earth Day Organization, expanded the event to 190 countries, but the New Yorkers put the date on the calendar.
The time was ripe. A decade of grass roots’ concern had swept the nation during the 1960s. Charles David Keeling began to measure carbon in the atmosphere and Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring woke the public to pesticide problems. With smog alerts and undrinkable water warnings, universities organized ecology conferences and non-profits held environmental symposiums. Earth Day unified the interest groups and paved a path for politicians like Senator Edwin Muskie, scientists like James Lovelock (the Gaia principle), non-profits, government regulatory institutions and legislation like the Clean Air Act of 1970, Endangered Species Act of 1973 and Clean Drinking Water Act of 1974.
From inception, certain elements of society considered the environmental cause subversive. Senator Nelson chose April 22 to honor the birth date of John Muir, the 19th century wilderness conservation advocate who founded the Sierra Club. The date coincided with Lenin’s 100th birthday and suspicious J. Edgar Hover sent FBI agents to cover Earth Day events. (Now there’s a movie pitch: Men-in-Black meet the flower people.) The scandal broke when Senator Muskie testified to a Senate hearing that his Earth Day speech appeared in FBI reports. April 14, 1971, page 1 of the NYTimes headlined MUSKIE SAYS F.B.I. SPIED AT RALLIES ON ‘70 EARTH DAY; Press Aide Says President Finds the Surveillance of Citizens 'Repugnant' (Ironic considering that president was Richard Nixon). The conspiracy theory had coincidence and credence; communist countries celebrated Lenin’s anniversary with a day of community service like park clean-up or roadside litter removal. An amusing entry on the Wikipedia Earth Day page cites Time magazine quoting an irate member of Daughters of the American Revolution: “subversive elements plan to make American children live in an environment that is good for them.”
Earth Day galvanized the concept of protecting the environment from pollution as a matter of public safety. Subsequent decades have increased concerns about stress on the planet and expanded the environmental mandate from safety to survival. Since inception, the holiday has inspired collective festivities while trumpeting warnings, but after the burst of collaborative energy in the 1970s, nature has mostly taken a back seat. Though the silent march down Fifth Ave no longer commemorates the date, the lack of progress over the last 40 years does not exactly justify celebration.
To work with Madeleine, visit her website or contact her over email at mdale@halstead.com.
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Thoughts of Eco Logic are those of Madeleine Dale and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Halstead Property, LLC