Politics & Government
Earth Day, first held April 22, 1970, is now celebrated every year by more than a billion people in 180 nations around the world. All work together for the common goal of preserving the Earth and leaving it a better place for the future. This photo of Earth is from 2002. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of the planet. (NASA/MCT)
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On the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, member of Beta Sigma Phi fraternity at what was then Boise State College removed old cars from the Foothills above Boise, Idaho. (Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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Gaylord Nelson served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army in World War II. He came home to Clear Lake, Wisconsin, where he was elected to the state Senate and then Wisconsin governor. (Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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Denis Hayes was hired as the national coordinator of Earth Day in 1969. (Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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Marilyn Laurie was an unemployed mother of two children when she became one of the five organizers of Earth Day in New York in 1969. (Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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Arturo Sandoval was already a Hispanic leader when he joined Denis Hayes to work on Earth Day. (Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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Randal O'Toole was invited to help organize Earth Day as a high school senior in Portland, Oregon. (Matthew Barrick/Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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Kent Conrad knew Denis Hayes at Stanford; when Hayes became coordinator of Earth Day, he hired Conrad to help. (Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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Tia Nelson worked 17 years for the Nature Conservancy on climate-change issues. (Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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In his college years, Boise, Idaho attorney Bill Mauk was an anti-war protester, activist and University of Southern California student body president. Thirty-nine years ago, he helped plan the original Earth Day. (Katherine Jones/Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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Richard Cizik was a sophomore at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, when he led a campus campaign to save trees the administration wanted to cut down. (David S. Holloway/Idaho Statesman/MCT)
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Earth Day, which is celebrated April 22, turns 40 this year. (John Alvin/The Fresno Bee/MCT)
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