David Obey: “Earth Day is a great day to call attention to the many environmental and public health challenges that face everyone on…”

“Earth Day is a great day to call attention to the many environmental and public health challenges that face everyone on the planet. It is also a great opportunity to reflect on the history of the Earth Day movement and to pay tribute to one of recent history's great statesmen and founding father of the movement, our former Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson. Today, people all around the nation are celebrating Earth Day. Local communities have organized events to, once again, bring to the public eye the importance of working together to improve our quality of life and to protect our natural heritage. However, without the leadership of a passionate public servant from Wisconsin, we would no be breathing air as clean. We would not be swimming in lakes, rivers and streams as safe. We would not be enjoying the beauty of public lands as special as those we were able to protect under laws he championed. We would not be holding Earth Day celebrations each year on April 22nd. Earth Day was 'born' in September, 1969. Senator Gaylord Nelson was invited to give a speech at a conference held at the Seattle Science Center. In his speech, he suggested that, just as Americans had been involved in 'teach-ins' to protest the Vietnam war, the country should also set aside a day to call attention to the environmental problems facing our planet and to demand that Congress address those important issues.”