The Fist Earth Day

The first Earth Day celebration took place on March 21, 1970, the vernal equinox that year. It was the brainchild of John McConnell, a newspaper publisher and influential community acivist, who proposed the idea of a global holiday called Earth Day at a UNESCO Conference on the Environment in 1969. McConnell suggested an annual observance to remind the people of Earth of their shared responsibility as environmental stewards. He chose the vernal equinox – the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere, the first day of autumn in the southern hemisphere – because it is a day of renewal.

At the vernal equinox ( always March 20 or March 21 ), night and day are the same length everywhere on Earth. McConnell believed that Earth Day should be atime of equilibrium when people could put aside their differences and recognize their common need to preseve Earth’s resources. On February26, 1971, U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signed a proclamation saying that the United Nation would celebrate Earth Day annually on the vernal equinox, thereby officially establishing the March date as the international Earth Day.