First Celebration of Earth Day

On April 22, 1970 at 7AM, students, teachers, and faculty gathered together in the Browning Amphitheatre to celebrate the first Earth Day. Workshops took place all across campus along with musical performances, education stands, clean ups, and speeches from political leaders from different political parties. Earth Day was part of a broader environmental movement that grew amidst the unrest that roiled the country during The Vietnam War and ongoing fight for Civil Rights. Earth Day was able to create change across the nation at first and then the rest of the world from these celebrations that started on campuses.

During a period of protest against The Vietnam War and fighting for Civil Rights. Earth Day was crucial moment in the evolving environmental movement that sought to change the nation. The year 1969 witnessed a number of events that reinforced the precarious nature of the environment. The Santa Barbara oil spill opened the year garnering national attention. So too were there local examples such as the Cuyahoga River Fire in Cleveland. David Stradling in “Perceptions of the Burning River: Deindustrialization and Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River” writes: “Occurred late on a Sunday morning in June 1969. An oil slick and debris burned intensely for less than half an hour, damaging two railroad trestles, one seriously.”^[1] Students nationally and locally began realizing that the Government wasn’t looking out for their environmental impact which meant their futures were filled with uncertainty. 

At the beginning of 1970, Ohio state students were beginning to lay out the plan across campus for Earth Day activities. Speakers were brought on board and eventually the movement found itself in a fair. Robert Knight writes in The Lantern, the university newspaper: “A group of 100 students have begun to draw blueprints for the campus environmental teach-in called Earth Day…" Coder told the new committee that groups like “the Ohio Council of Churches, and the AFL-CIO have promised financial aid as soon as they see a specific set of blueprints on the Earth Day activities”^[2] With private organizations now backing the environmental group, the university began realizing that this movement was going to be affecting the entire campus. Not to mention that it can be seen that students’ next step was to begin rallying their own and other universities were now getting involved.  

High schools and universities all across the country were preparing for a new event that was sweeping across the nation. William Shkurti, author of “The Ohio State University in the Sixties” writes, “Eventually, 2,000 colleges and universities signed on, along with 7,000 high schools.”^[3] Not only was OSU getting ready to celebrate, but the nation was getting ready to come together, educate, and advocate for Earth’s natural resources. 

Earth Day's main stage at Ohio State was located at The Browning Amphitheatre. OSU’s “Makio Yearbook” recorded that “Gov James A. Rhodes spoke the “Rite of Spring '' at 7 a.m. in Browning Amphitheatre. About 150 people sacrificed their morning sleep to attend the opening program which included music and poetry.”^[4] After his speech began the rest of the day's activities. Workshops were spread across campus that were meant to educate on how to handle environmental issues. On the Olentangy river they all gathered to clean up the river from the amount of pollution that was being dumped without a second thought. 

Apart from the workshops and cleanups that happened across campus, many speakers also attended to give their advice on how to deal with the rising environmental crisis. There were three especially noteworthy speakers: “Senatorial candidate John Glenn spoke in Hitchcock Hall to promote his anti-pollution legislation. Mike Frome, a conservation editor of Field and Stream magazine, spoke in the Ohio Union about students' 'responsibility of the land.' Now Ohio governor, Robert Taft, also made an appearance to discuss pollution control”^[5] This was a very good sign for the movement due to the fact that each of these men came from very different political backgrounds. John Glenn from the Democratic Party, Mike Frome a liberal, and Robert Taft being a Republican Governor. It goes to show that this movement was able to unite all political parties.

What developed in the Browning Amphitheater ended up turning into a widespread matter impacting not only Ohio State, but millions around the world. Over fifty years later the movement has emerged into a worldwide push that has brought countless environmental shifts.

^[1] Stradling, David, and Richard Stradling. “Perceptions of the Burning River: Deindustrialization and Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River.” Environmental History 13, no. 3 (2008): 515–35. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25473265. (Page 517).

^[2] Knight Robert, “Earth Day Scheduled for Campus Teach-In” Ohio State Lantern January 20, 1970, https://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/ohio/sharedview.article.aspx?href=OHI%2F1970%2F01%2F20&id=Ar00101&sk=171D5253&viewMode=image 

^[3] Shkurti, William J. The Ohio State University in the Sixties: The Unraveling of the Old Order. Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 2016. muse.jhu.edu/book/47909. (page 308)

^[4] The Ohio State University, “Makio 1970: The Centennial Year” The Ohio State University Makio. Volume LXXXIX. 1970. (Page 153). https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/73580 

^[5] Weinberger Erin, “A Look at OSU’s First Earth Day” Ohio State Lantern April 28, 2000, https://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/apa/ohio/sharedview.article.aspx?href=OHI%2F2000%2F04%2F28&id=Ar00104&sk=7B3A6937&viewMode=image