Great Lakes Now

How the Great Lakes region inspired the first Earth Day

7 min read

How the Great Lakes region inspired the first Earth Day

On the heels of the anti-war protests that were taking 1960s college campuses by storm, Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson was inspired to use that same momentum to create a protest so large that it would create an environmental movement. 

An estimated 20 million Americans gathered on what would become known as Earth Day, with thousands of college campuses and high schools across the country engaged in the action.

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