Political Quotes

“41 years ago my friend and mentor, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, had a surprisingly simple idea. At the time, the country was fighting an unpopular and unwinnable war, and students were rising up in protest and holding teach-ins on college campuses all over the country. Senator Nelson looked around him and realized that those teach-ins were an invaluable tool in helping to educate people and calling attention to the need to end the war once and for all. In 1969, when the Senate contained such environmental giants as Ed Muskie, Scoop Jackson, Gaylord Nelson, and Bob Stafford, he gave a pivotal speech at the Seattle Science Center. In that speech he suggested that just as Americans had been involved in teach-ins to protest the Vietnam war, that they should also set aside a day to call attention to the environmental problems facing the planet and to demand real leadership from public officials on producing solutions. Wire services carried the story from coast to coast. And as history shows, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Earth Day was born.”