Earth Day: 1970 and Now

The decade that began with the first Earth Day became a pivotal moment in U.S. environmental awareness and action. The core principles of the environmental decade are now questioned in the highest offices of our land.

2 minute read

April 22, 2020, 9:15 AM PDT

By Bruce Stiftel @BruceStiftel


National Park Service

Herbert Johnson was appointed by Robert Moses as the first manager of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in 1952 | National Park Service

On April 22, 1970, I stepped to the podium of the auditorium in Far Rockaway High School in New York City to introduce Herbert Johnson, the long-time park ranger of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a man who had labored most of his adult life to build a haven for birds and crustaceans in the shadow of Kennedy airport. Moved by the teaching of our science faculty, and drawn into a national conversation stimulated by Rachel Carson and Marjory Stoneman Douglass, I was one of a small group in my school who campaigned that the school should mark the first Earth Day in a significant way.

The decade that began with the first Earth Day became a pivotal moment in US environmental awareness and action, seeing passage of the Clean Air Act, the Federal Pollution Control Act amendments of 1972, the Coastal Zone Management Act and a host of other key environmental protection laws, many of which were echoed in our states and in other countries. It was also a time when school children became leaders in their families, promoting sustainable practices that often seemed at odds with the greatest growth spurt in consumerism that the world had known.

Earth Day became a regular part of our annual cycle and even faded into the background as we began to take for granted the cleaner water and air and resource management protections that resulted from the environmental decade. As a nation, we largely moved on to other concerns.

Our city planning profession, of course, did not. Environmental sustainability remained central to our cause as the issues were reframed and refocused around carbon footprint, biodiversity, genetic modification in the food supply, and other increasingly global concerns. Still, there was a complacency that here in the US that we had a consensus around the fundamentals of pollution control and sustainable yield from publicly managed natural resources.

Suddenly, that complacency no longer seems justified. The core principles of the environmental decade are now questioned in the highest offices of our land, and civil servants who dedicated their lives to protecting our planet for our children find themselves unwelcome in their workplaces. Again, an Earth Day that calls attention to the irreplaceable role of natural resources in sustaining life is essential to our future. Thank you for your commitment to a profession that works at the forefront of the battle for sustainability. May this Earth Day be a moment to reassure you that progress is possible and to contemplate the most effective path forward to living equitably within our means.


Bruce Stiftel

Bruce Stiftel, FAICP, is professor emeritus of city and regional planning at Georgia Tech. His research concerns planning theory, adaptive governance, and international development. He chairs the Planners for Climate Action knowledge/research group, co-chairs the Researcher and Academic Partner Constituency Group in the World Urban Campaign, co-chairs U.N. Habitat's University Network Initiative, and is a Director At-large of the American Planning Association.

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Cover CM Credits, Earn Certificates, Push Your Career Forward

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

July 16, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Green vintage Chicago streetcar from the 1940s parked at the Illinois Railroad Museum in 1988.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails

Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

July 13, 2025 - WTTV

Blue and silver Amtrak train with vibrant green and yellow foliage in background.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail

The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

July 14, 2025 - Smart Cities Dive

Worker in yellow safety vest and hard hat looks up at servers in data center.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power

Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

July 18 - Inside Climate News

Former MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood standing in front of MARTA HQ with blurred MARTA sign visible in background.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns

MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

July 18 - WABE

Rendering of proposed protected bikeway in Santa Clara, California.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant

A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.

July 17 - San José Spotlight