Gaylord Nelson, politician who initiated Earth Day

MILWAUKEE – Gaylord Nelson, the former governor and US senator from Wisconsin who founded Earth Day and helped spawn the modern US environmental movement, died of heart failure on Sunday.

He was 89. Thirty-five years after the first Earth Day, April 22 is still a day on which many people plant trees, clean up trash and lobby for a clean environment.A conservationist years before it became fashionable, Nelson was recognised as one of the world’s foremost environmental leaders.Then-President Bill Clinton presented Nelson with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 for his environmental efforts.”As the father of Earth Day, he is the grandfather of all that grew out of that event: the Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act,” read the proclamation from Clinton.Nelson entered public life in 1948 as a Wisconsin state senator, a position he held for 10 years.In 1958, Nelson became only the second Democrat during the 20th century to be elected governor of Wisconsin.After two two-year terms, Nelson was elected in 1962 to the US Senate.In his three terms, he championed conservation policies, including legislation to preserve the 3 380-kilometre Appalachian Trail and create a national hiking system.Nelson’s most recognised effort, however, was Earth Day, which he started as an environmental demonstration based on the anti-war teach-ins of the Vietnam War.”It suddenly occurred to me, why not have a nationwide teach-in on the environment,” Nelson said.He announced his idea at a speech in Seattle in September 1969, and it “took off like gangbusters”.The first Earth Day, April 22 1970, attracted an estimated 20 million people.Tens of thousands of people filled New York’s Fifth Avenue, Congress adjourned so members could speak across the nation, and at least 2 000 universities marked the occasion.Nelson joined the Washington-based Wilderness Society and served as its full-time legal counsellor.William H Meadows, the group’s president, called Nelson the “founding father of the modern environmental community”.In the Wilderness Society, Nelson more and more focused his attention on the world’s quickly multiplying population.When he was born in 1916, the world’s population was about 1,8 billion – and it grew to nearly 6 billion in 1999.”The wealth of the nation is air, water, soil, forest, scenic beauty, wildlife habitat – take that away and all that’s left is a wasteland,” he said in a June 1999 address to the Wisconsin Legislature.- Nampa-APThirty-five years after the first Earth Day, April 22 is still a day on which many people plant trees, clean up trash and lobby for a clean environment.A conservationist years before it became fashionable, Nelson was recognised as one of the world’s foremost environmental leaders.Then-President Bill Clinton presented Nelson with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 for his environmental efforts.”As the father of Earth Day, he is the grandfather of all that grew out of that event: the Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act,” read the proclamation from Clinton.Nelson entered public life in 1948 as a Wisconsin state senator, a position he held for 10 years.In 1958, Nelson became only the second Democrat during the 20th century to be elected governor of Wisconsin.After two two-year terms, Nelson was elected in 1962 to the US Senate.In his three terms, he championed conservation policies, including legislation to preserve the 3 380-kilometre Appalachian Trail and create a national hiking system.Nelson’s most recognised effort, however, was Earth Day, which he started as an environmental demonstration based on the anti-war teach-ins of the Vietnam War.”It suddenly occurred to me, why not have a nationwide teach-in on the environment,” Nelson said.He announced his idea at a speech in Seattle in September 1969, and it “took off like gangbusters”.The first Earth Day, April 22 1970, attracted an estimated 20 million people.Tens of thousands of people filled New York’s Fifth Avenue, Congress adjourned so members could speak across the nation, and at least 2 000 universities marked the occasion.Nelson joined the Washington-based Wilderness Society and served as its full-time legal counsellor.William H Meadows, the group’s president, called Nelson the “founding father of the modern environmental community”.In the Wilderness Society, Nelson more and more focused his attention on the world’s quickly multiplying population.When he was born in 1916, the world’s population was about 1,8 billion – and it grew to nearly 6 billion in 1999.”The wealth of the nation is air, water, soil, forest, scenic beauty, wildlife habitat – take that away and all that’s left is a wasteland,” he said in a June 1999 address to the Wisconsin Legislature.- Nampa-AP