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Ecology Flag designed by underground artist Ron Cobb in 1969

Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and as the following link reminds us, the day was inspired in part by the infamous Cuyahoga River fire on June 23, 1969:

http://whoknew.news.yahoo.com/?vid=18555867

I discuss the Cuyahoga fire in my “Green Mind” chapter in 1969: The Year Everything Changed, along with the Santa Barbara Oil slick from ‘69, the People’s Park riots, and the beginnings of Earth Day–or, I should say, Earth Days, as the phrase was applied to two different dates and celebrations.  The first one took place on March 21, 1970, organized by faith-based activist and pacifist John McConnell as a regional event in San Francisco to be held on the spring solstice, and to draw attention to the need for peace and environmental balance.  Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson prompted a nationwide “teach-in” day on the environment for April 22. Nelson said later, “John McConnell may have used the phrase Earth Day before we did, [but] ours was a political exercise. His was a peace exercise.” 

John McConnell's Earth Flag from the early 1970s, featuring the "Big Blue Marble" photo taken during Apollo 17.

McConnell, who also designed the Earth Flag (left) said decades later, “The most damaging lie about the environment is that statement that ‘Earth Day is April 22.’” But the April date is the one that has grown into an international celebration.

You can read more about the international Earth Day by clicking on the following links:

http://www.earthday.net/node/77

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

Here’s an Onion article on an outspoken, oil-covered otter:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/shell_executives_accuse_oil?utm_source=a-section

…which reminded me of an actual statement made by an oil exec in the aftermath of the Santa Barbara Oil Slick in February 1969:

Fred Hartley, the president of Union Oil, traveled to Washington to appear before a subcommittee on air and water pollution to testify on the episode, which he put off as “Mother Earth letting the oil come out.” Fed up with the outrage over the oil slick his company had created, Hartley commented, “I’m amazed at the publicity for the loss of a few birds.”

You can read more about the Santa Barbara slick, the infamous Cuyahoga River fire, the controversial People’s Park riots, and other ecology-related episodes from that year in 1969: The Year Everything Changed.