A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
Americans celebrate Earth Day in a variety of forms, from planting trees to gathering in forums to find solutions to changes in the environment.
It’s a perfect chance for schoolchildren to get outside and, well, touch the Earth. For adults, it can be a reminder to stop and smell the flowers.
On April 22, 1970, Americans weren’t sure what to do to celebrate the first Earth Day.
In big cities, the focus seemed to center on trash. “People are the real polluters,” New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay brazenly said. “It’s a matter of habit for they have been littering for years,” the mayor added, before jumping on an exhaustless electric bus to head to another Earth Day event, according to The Associated Press report in the April 23, 1970, edition of the Deseret News.
Other events in as many as 2,000 communities around the nation included teach-ins on pollution, cleanup days and fairly harsh rhetoric. In West Virginia, “five tons of garbage were picked up along a five-mile stretch of U.S. 50 and dumped on the Harrison County Courthouse steps in Clarsksburg,” the AP reported.
Utahns joined the first Earth Day activities as well. There were student-led events at the University of Utah, Westminster College, Brighton High School and … Parleys Pre-School.
Young Utahns lead out on Earth Day
In 1990, the Deseret News connected with many of those who appeared on the front page of the Deseret News in 1970. Among them was Clark Ivory, a Utah developer who is heavily involved in business-community partnerships related to affordable housing issues in the state.
Ivory was one of a group of preschoolers sending a letter to then-President Richard Nixon. Students at Parleys Pre-School, 2474 E. 3640 South, told the president, “It isn’t enough to keep the earth clean on the outside. We understand that we must be clean ourselves with good habits and good ideals for people and nature.”
In 1990, Kirk Astroth, one of the student leaders at Brighton High during the original Earth Day activities, looked back:
”Twenty years ago I was a student of 18. I don’t think I really understood the magnitude of the issues. Everything seems pretty simple when you’re a teenager.”
Now he realizes how interconnected many aspects of the environment are. “But at the same time I really haven’t changed my perspective that much.”
The youngsters of those first Earth Day activities now occupy positions of influence across the world.
Here are some stories from Deseret News archives about Earth Day:
“Earth Day, 1970-1990: Many disagree on definitions of environmental concerns”
“On Earth Day 2024, learn how the Church of Jesus Christ cares for the earth”
“Happy Earth Day! Movies and documentaries about the Earth to watch in celebration”
“Opinion: Giving to the Great Salt Lake on Earth Day”
