earthday.org. "This is the moment to change it all — the business climate, the political climate, and how we take action on climate," the website stated. "Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, our livelihoods."Advocates are pushing citizens, governments and businesses to do what they can to combat the climate crisis to "build a healthy planet for our children and their children."The first Earth Day was held in April 1970, before the Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act even existed.
At that time, there were simply no laws in place aimed at protecting the environment. RELATED: Majority of Americans favor US taking steps to be carbon neutral by 2050, Pew survey findsAccording to earthday.org, a book by Rachel Carson titled "Silent Spring" released in 1962 helped begin raising public awareness and concern for the environment.
It sold more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries.Then, according to the EPA, in the spring of 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day as a way to bring the issue into the national spotlight.
After 20 million Americans demonstrated across the country, Congress authorized the creation of a new federal agency to tackle environmental issues, the U.S.