The first widely-recognized Earth Day was held on this date in 1970.
Actually, the very first Earth Day celebration was held the previous year in San Francisco on March 21, the Vernal Equinox (the moment when the night and day are equal throughout the earth). Organizers hoped the first Earth Day would become a yearly event and eventually be celebrated globally.
In January 1970, a group called the Environmental Teach-In planned an event for April 22, which they also called Earth Day. It attracted much more attention than the San Francisco observance.
The following year, Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin announced an Earth Week, to be held annually the third week of April. Meanwhile, at a Stockholm Conference, Japan obtained support for a World Environment Day which would be observed June 5. Finally, UN Secretary General U Thant proclaimed Earth Day at the United Nations on March 21, 1971.
Four years later, the U.S. Congress and President Gerald Ford proclaimed and urged observance of Earth Day on the March equinox.
During the Easter season, reverence for all life is a special theme in the liturgy. For example, the first reading at the Easter Vigil describes how God created the earth and called it good.
- Little White Book, Diocese of Saginaw