The History Of Earth Day By Amanda Davis

In the passage, “The History of Earth Day,” by Amanda Davis, she states, “In 1962, Gaylord Nelson decided something needed to be done to protect the environment.” For many years people have not been aware of the pollution on Earth so Nelson decided to help with the creation of Earth Day. Davis states, “For several years, it has been troubling me,” Nelson wrote in a 1962 article, “that the state of the environment is simply a non-issue in the politics of our country.” This explains why we need Earth Day to keep Earth clean. Nelson was so concerned, that he turned the president John F. Kennedy for assistance. Davis states, “It wasn’t long before president Kennedy heard Nelson’s concerns and agreed that action should be taken.” Nelson went out to Washington DC, where he was going to try to convince the president to take time and notice all of the environmental issues. As a result, president Kennedy said that something needed to be done. Kennedy went around the country speaking to people about the environment, but nothing changed. Even though president Kennedy’s speeches did not make a change, Nelson decided to take matters into his own hands. The text states, “Nelson continued to speak to audiences across 25 states about the importance of the environment.” Nelson spoke in many places to warn people what
will happen if we do not take care of the environment. This proves that Nelson really was concerned about the environment. Many people do not believe that Earth Day is needed.
In “Earth Day” by Atticot and Manning they state, “The recycling rate has increased from less than 10% in 1980 to more than 34% in 2011. Now that has spiked, and some people feel that you don’t have to recycle anymore. However, that is wrong. Davis states, “On March 21, 1971, the UN Secretary-General signed a proclamation establishing Earth Day as an official international holiday.” That was signed in 1971, so it was still so bad that they had to make a holiday to remind people to take care of Earth. Therefore Earth Day needs to stay a holiday to make sure that we don’t fall back to square
one. In conclusion, is still necessary to have Earth Day. With this holiday, we have had a fabulous improvement from where we started. That was all because of one person who saw what was happening to our Earth. Even though our recycling rate has gone up, that doesn't mean that we should just stop. So start helping Earth today!