Black and brown, Latinx/Latine and indigenous peoples, new Americans, and migrant workers have been stewards of these lands for centuries. But the modern environmental movement as we know it found its footing in the United States with the first Earth Day in 1970 and the founding of Greenpeace in 1971.
After worsening air and water pollution for the sake of economic growth and the watershed publication of Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” in 1962, many believed it was time for a change. It was time for a movement.
In the decades that followed, we’ve seen some of our most important environmental legislation passed: updates to the Clean Air Act and the creation of the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. We’ve also seen broken commitments to international agreements, unprecedented lobbying and efforts to keep fossil fuel enterprises lucrative for shareholders, and disinformation campaigns to keep business as usual — all while the climate crisis unfolds in front of our eyes.
