Each year, Earth Day — April 22 — marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
The height of hippie and flower-child culture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Protest was the order of the day, but saving the planet was not the cause. War raged in Vietnam, and students nationwide increasingly opposed it.
At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. “Environment” was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news. Although mainstream America remained oblivious to environmental concerns, the stage had been set for change by the publication of Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962. The book represented a watershed moment for the modern environmental movement, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries and, up until that moment, more than any other person, Ms. Carson raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and public health.
Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns front and center.
Thanks, Ursarodinia
Eideard 
‘Can Ecuador bring Chevron to justice? A US appeals court may decide fate of a $9.5 billion fine imposed on the company for environmental damage” http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/4/can-ecuador-bring-chevron-to-justice.html “On Monday, judges in New York began hearing arguments in one of the biggest and longest-running environmental justice cases of all time. At stake is whether a developing country that happens to have oil can enforce its judgments against a multinational company. The results may tell Americans something about what the rule of law is worth in their own country.
…Chevron has another tactic up its sleeve. Under the provision of an investment treaty between the U.S. and Ecuador, Chevron claims that it is allowed to convene a panel of lawyers with the power to override Ecuador’s judicial system and constitution and throw out the judgment awarded in the original case. This is an example of why these trade agreements — including the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes a similar investor-state enforcement mechanism — are so toxic.”
Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson Has A Sobering Reminder For You This Earth Day : “Save the planet” is a misguided rallying cry. Here’s why. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/neil-degrasse-tyson-has-a-sobering-reminder-for-you-this-earth-day_us_5adced26e4b009869bfa7a5e