Gaylord Nelson’s original idea became the internationally recognized annual event, Earth Day. From Clear Lake, WI, Nelson became a state senator, governor of Wisconsin, and a U.S. senator. All along the way, he prioritized the environment by protecting natural resources through advocacy and policies and inspiring greater awareness of the need to care for the earth.
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Gaylord Nelson: A Vision for the Earth
[lively string music] [birds chirping] [acorn drops] – Gaylord Nelson: You hear the word ecology, that’s a big science, not a narrow one, it’s a big concept, [owl hoots] and it is concerned with all the ramifications of all the relationships of all living creatures [bird flutters wings] to each other and their environment.
– Tia Nelson: This is me with my father.
My name is Tia Nelson and my dad was Gaylord Nelson.
He is known as the father of Earth Day– a vision he had for teachers all across the country to talk about the environment.
Maybe you’ve heard of Earth Day.
Maybe you’ve even participated in an Earth Day event.
[horns honking, crowd cheering] Before he was the father of Earth Day, before he was my dad– he was a little boy growing up in Clear Lake in northern Wisconsin.
[child laughs] He loved spending time outdoors, [water splashes] exploring the forests, lakes, and streams of the region.
Nature was his playground!
[footsteps rustling] As he was growing up, he also got to know the world of civics and government through his parents.
– Gaylord: And so, I went to political meetings with my father and my mother from the time I was in grade school.
Whenever a speaker came within driving distance in our Model T Ford, away we went, 40, 50, 60 miles sometimes just to hear somebody, hear one of the La Follettes give a speech.
[train blows whistle, chugs] – Tia: My father was inspired, and he started thinking about a future for himself… running for elected office!
[muffled voice] That stayed with him as he went to college, and then law school, through his time in the U.S. Army during World War II.
When he came back to Wisconsin, he was ready to get his career in politics going!
He ran for the State Senate and then for governor of Wisconsin.
As governor, he worked on government reform, social justice causes, and environmental issues.
He created new jobs for young people, designated lands for public parks, and worked to conserve our beautiful lakes and rivers.
He accomplished a lot for the people of Wisconsin and he wanted to make an even bigger impact.
So he ran for the U.S. Senate to represent Wisconsin citizens in the nation’s capital, and he won!
[classical music] But when he got to Washington D.C., he found that others in government just didn’t seem to care about the environment as much as he did.
A national conservation tour with President Kennedy didn’t accomplish what he hoped it would, and few senators would support the laws that he proposed to protect our environment.
Some years later, he went to visit the site of an oil spill and was devastated by the damage he saw.
On the plane ride home, he read an article about anti-war teach-ins on college campuses.
That’s when he got an idea.
– Gaylord: Teach-ins on the campuses, teach-ins on the Vietnam War, and I thought, “That’s a good idea.
“Why can’t we have a nationwide quote ‘teach-in’ on the environment?”
That’s where the concept of Earth Day came from.
[airplane engine] – Tia: The idea for a teach-in about the environment started to spread well beyond my dad’s original vision.
And when the day came, April 22, 1970, people all over the country participated.
That day, the first Earth Day, marked the start of many changes to come over the next ten years.
They passed laws to keep pollution out of the air and water, so many laws that it became known as the Environmental Decade.
[triumphant orchestra music] My father was elected to three terms, serving 18 years in the U.S. Senate.
Even after he was finished, he never stopped fighting for the environment.
When asked, at the age of 88, why he still went to work every day, he said, “Because the job’s not done!”
And he’s right!
There is still so much more to do.
– Gaylord: I don’t think there’s any other issue, viewed in its broadest sense, which is as critical to mankind as the issue of the quality of the environment in which we live.
[birds chirping] – Tia: Earth Day lives on, as does the need to protect and care for the place we call home.
Each of us has the power to help make the world a better place.
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