Just 45 years ago in 1970 the very first Earth Day was held. Earth Day events were held in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. And at least 20 million Americans peacefully gathered together in mass demonstrations held in cities and towns across the United States to express support for protecting the environment.
A poll taken in1971 on the first anniversary of Earth Day found that 63 percent of respondents said that it was "very important" to work to restore and enhance the national environment, with 25 percent saying it was "fairly important" and only 8 percent saying it was "not too important." But when the same questions were asked in a US poll conducted in 2013, only 39 percent of respondents said it was very important, while 41 percent said it was fairly important and 16 percent said it was not too important.
How curious that 45 years after the first Earth Day was held in 1970, in a world where talk of global warming, superstorms, ice sheet melt, sea level rise, and massive droughts has become commonplace, public support for protecting the environment has fallen so dramatically.
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