On Aoril 22, 1990, the second Earth Day was celebrated by more than 225 million people. The first Earth Day was held on Apr. 22, 1970 and the modern environmental movement was born.

A proposal to establish “Earth Day” was submitted the previous Oct. by John McConnell to Peter Tamaris with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Gaylord Nelson, a Democratic Senator from Wisconsin was instrumental in founding Earth Day as a teach-in and to “force this issue onto the national agenda.ﾔ 20 million Americans demonstrated across the nation.

Senator Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton
in 1995 — the highest honor given to civilians in the United States — for his role as Earth Day founder.