The origins of Earth Day date back to 1962, when Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published. Silent Spring focused on the use and dangers of chemicals and pesticides and led to a greater interest in the health of our environment. After the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969, Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin created a team to promote education and activism supporting the environment. On April 22, 1970, teach-ins and rallies took place across the United States. From this event, the Clean Air, Clean Water, and the Endangered Species Acts were passed and the Environmental Protection Agency was created. Earth Day has been celebrated ever since and went world-wide in 1990. Below are my favorite quotes from environmental activist.

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. -Rachel Carson, Marine Biologist, Conservationist, Author

We have arrived at a moment of decision. Our home—Earth—is in danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is not the planet itself, of course, but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings. -Al Gore, former U.S. Vice President, statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 1.28.09

I wake up in the morning asking myself what can I do today, how can I help the world today. I believe in what I do beyond a shadow of a doubt. -Julia “Butterfly” Hill, Environmental Activist

The most important environmental issue is one that is rarely mentioned, and that is the lack of a conservation ethic in our culture. -Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, Earth Day Founder

A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy. -John Sawhill, President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy

What is the use of a house if you don’t have a decent planet to put it on? -Henry David Thoreau, Author, Naturalist

Be a leader, like these activist, and move to action TODAY.