April 22 is Earth Day 2016. Each Earth Day marks another milestone in a profound human reawakening to the truth that we are children of a living Earth who survive and prosper only as contributing members of a living Earth community.
The first Earth Day, in 1970, brought 20 million people to U.S. streets, parks, and auditoriums in a massive demonstration of public support for political action to limit human harm to nature. As the first mass demonstration in defense of nature, it marked the birth of the modern environmental movement. More than a billion people in 192 countries now participate in Earth Day each year.
The 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring planted the seed. Prior to her book, the word “environment” rarely appeared in mainstream media. Silent Spring became a New York Times bestseller and drew worldwide attention to the devastating impact of our toxic wastes on human and animal health.