"Denis Hayes, who coordinated the first event in 1970, denounces fossil fuel companies that use the event to get positive publicity".
"Corporate greenwashing should not undermine the message behind Earth Day and has nothing to do with its original aims, one of the founders of the annual environmental event has warned.
Denis Hayes, the American environmental activist who coordinated the first Earth Day in 1970, denounced the “appalling” environmental messaging by oil, gas and other extractive companies and said he hoped it did not distract attention from the threats posed by the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, which he compared to the threat of nuclear conflict during the cold war.
Protests and events have been planned across the globe for this year’s Earth day, with millions of people expected to take part today.
Hayes was hired to organise a national teach-in about environmentalism by the US senator Gaylord Nelson while at Harvard in 1970, and helped transform it into the largest environmental movement in history. About 20 million people across the US took part on the first Earth Day on 22 April 1970 and public pressure from the event is credited with ensuring the passing of the 1972 Clean Water Act. It has since become a global movement, with China, the US and the UK among dozens of countries to sign the Paris agreement on the 2016 Earth Day."
Patrick Greenfield reports for the Guardian April 22, 2023.
SEE ALSO:
"How To Talk To Your Parents About Climate Change" (BBC News)
"Earth Day Activists Urge Action To Avoid 'Dystopian' Future" (Reuters)
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