In the mid 20th century, smog choked cities, factories spewed industrial waste and a river in Ohio caught fire. By the late 1960s, a series of environmental crises, including a devastating oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., pushed environmental damage into the national spotlight.
This Retro Report traces how those events led to the creation of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, when an estimated 20 million Americans took part in demonstrations, teach-ins and community cleanup efforts. Public pressure eventually led to landmark legislation, including the Clean Air Act, and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The film draws on archival footage and interviews with historians, policymakers and organizers to show how Earth Day transformed scattered local concerns into a national movement. It also examines how some environmental protections have been rolled back in recent years, including a wave of deregulation during the Trump administration.
View transcript here.