Gaylord
Nelson was a Wisconsin Governor and Senator who helped to lead the environmental
movement. As US Senator from 1963 to 1981, he sponsored or co-sponsored dozens
of laws to protect the environment, including protecting wilderness areas, banning
detergents from water supplies, banning the harmful pesticide DDT, and sponsoring
a constitutional amendment to guarantee every citizen the right to a clean environment.
Senator Nelson was also concerned with consumer protection, civil rights, civil
liberties and ending poverty.
In
1963 he convinced President Kennedy to travel around the nation on a conservation
tour, urging Americans to conserve resources, but the media practically ignored
the campaign. Senator Nelson tried to find another way to bring the idea of environmental
concern to the public's attention. Noting the success of the teach-ins on college
campuses to end the Vietnam War, Senator Nelson worked to create a nationwide
Environmental Teach-In on April 22, 1970. 20 million Americans participated. This
annual event for learning about ecology and how we can protect the earth came
to be called Earth Day, and has spread all around the world - on the 30th Anniversary,
500 million people in 174 countries celebrated Earth Day!
After
serving in the US Senate, Gaylord Nelson continued to work for a sustainable future
by serving The Wildnerness Society as its Chair and then as a counselor until
his death at 89. In 1995, when President Clinton awarded Gaylord Nelson with the
nation's highest civilian honor - the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- he noted
how Nelson's many ecological achievements had helped to elevate environmental
concern to the national level and have since inspired countless others to dedicate
their lives to protecting our environment.
