Thirty years ago, Lawson LeGate was a student-body president in charge of organizing a weeklong environmental conference at Cordova High School near Sacramento, Calif.
The conference commemorated a new idea being called Earth Day, a time set aside by environmental activists across the nation to draw attention to industrial degradation of the planet and to dedicate themselves to making Mother Earth a better place to live."I did my first stand-up television interview, and I was hooked," said LeGate, who is now the senior southwest regional representative for the Sierra Club and one of Utah's most renowned environmental activists.
LeGate hardly will be alone when he celebrates Earth Day 2000 this coming Saturday. Not only has the event become a cause celebre in the United States, but it has become a major rallying point for activists in nations around the globe from Russia to South Africa.
Want to save the whales? Tie the campaign to Earth Day.
Want to ban nuclear power? There is no better forum than Earth Day.
But it's not just environmentalists jumping on the Earth Day bandwagon. In a twist undoubtedly ironic to organizers of the first Earth Day, the event has become a forum for business and industry to thump their corporate chests about all the environmental good they are doing. Government has gone green, too.
"It's a reflection of the powerful interest that protecting the environment has among American people today when you have diverse groups from industry to off-road vehicle organizations promoting it in their own way," LeGate said.
"I'm not particularly distressed that industry or people who would be characterized as our opponents are becoming involved in Earth Day. More power to them. I hope they spread the word," he said.
Earth Day has evolved from financially humble beginnings in 1970 to a public relations juggernaut today.
Some 20 million people participated in the first Earth Day, most of them Americans. On Saturday, the 30th anniversary, more than 100 million people around the planet are expected to participate in one way or another.
"The specific objective of Earth Day was to stir up a public demonstration big enough to shake up the establishment and force the environmental issue onto the national political agenda," said former Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, who won the presidential medal of freedom for founding Earth Day. "Earth Day was a truly astonishing grass-roots explosion. It achieved everything I had hoped for."
Officially, the Earth Day 2000 theme is "Clean Energy Now," focusing on clean power sources, clean air, cleaner-burning cars and ending subsidies to dirty industries.
In reality, it has become a day for groups to trumpet their causes, plant trees and cheer for a greener day.
It's no different in Utah where dozens of organizations -- businesses, schools, churches, government agencies, environmental groups -- are inundating newspaper offices with press releases requiring a small forest of paper products. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a group that has not invoked Earth Day in one context or another.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is using Earth Day to highlight a $984,000 grant and loan to the city of Green River for construction of new waste-water treatment facilities. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality will chip in another $1.3 million loan, all to make Green River water cleaner.
"So on this 30th Earth Day, why not celebrate by taking your family out to the Green River or to enjoy the beautiful scenic areas of Moab, Arches and Canyonlands national parks," agriculture officials suggest. "Remember all those who have taken active steps to protect our rivers and do what you can, too, to join in."
Utah's Winder Dairy is homing in on Earth Day, touting the environmental advantages of its plastic milk jugs that are reused more than 100 times and are then recycled. "Our customers drink over 2 million containers' worth of milk each year," said dairyman Mike Winder. "That is a lot of milk jugs not going into the landfill, something Mother Nature would surely smile about."
Scores of Earth Day events have been scheduled across the state, some as benign as watching environmentally inspired movies like "A Civil Action" and others physical, like moonlight hikes. There are also protests and rallies.
What has LeGate encouraged is the tremendous number of events being organized by young people, from grade schoolers to university students.
"It is very gratifying," he said, remembering how Earth Day inspired his own career in environmental activism. "There is tremendous interest, burgeoning interest among young people in protecting the environment. These people amaze me with their savvy and energy for participating in environmental causes."
And that, he said, bodes well for the future of Earth Day.
You can reach Jerry D. Spangler by e-mail at spang@desnews.com.