by Denis Hayes, Jenny Odell, Jedediah Britton-Purdy, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., Jamie Margolin.\u00a0 March 2, 2020, Sierra (The national magazine of the Sierra Club).\u00a0 Illustrations by Nolen Strals.<\/p>\n
The United States had never experienced anything like it: On April 22, 1970, nearly one in 10 Americans flooded the streets and the woods and the seashores to call for an end to the merciless pollution of the country’s air, waters, and landscapes. In the words of Senator Gaylord Nelson, the Wisconsin Democrat who conceived the idea of Earth Day, the goal was to force the issue of environmental protection “permanently onto the national political agenda”\u2014and in that, the effort succeeded.<\/p>\n
To mark Earth Day’s 50th anniversary, Sierra<\/em> assembled a collection of activists, organizers, and authors to imagine how it can be reinvigorated and reinvented. While each contributor writes in a different key, together they form a chorus, insistently hopeful that Earth Day 2020 can be another watershed moment\u2014one that leads to a bigger, bolder, and more lasting transformation.<\/p>\n Reflections by:<\/p>\n\n