MADISON, Wis. (WRN) — Earth Day has Wisconsin origins.
Chelsea Rademacher with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW Madison says U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson came up with the idea in 1969
“So the next year it was April 22nd. In 1970, that the first Earth Day happened, millions of people came together at campuses across the nation to celebrate the Earth, learn about ways that they can do a better job in safeguarding its future. And, so Earth Day really does have Wisconsin roots here,” Rademacher said.
Nelson, who died in 2005 at age 89, said “the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way around.”