40 years ago: The first Earth Day

Earth Day--April 22, 1970, which at first was just an American event, originated with U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (Democrat--Wisconsin), who was New Age before the term was used. Earth Day drew its share of protesters. According to The New York Times Encyclopedic Almanac 1971 (page 37):

...the Daughters of the American Revolution resolved that Earth Day was "subversive" and that reports of an environmental crisis were "distorted and exaggerated." And the comptroller general of Atlanta sent out a slew of telegrams to President Nixon and others, charging that Earth Day might be a Communist plot because it fell on the centennial of Lenin’s birthday, which, actually, it did.