On the first Earth Day 50 years ago in 1970, an estimated 20 million people across the United States took to the streets on behalf of the environment. Spurred by the mass mobilization, within five years Congress had created some of the most consequential environmental legislation to date: the establishment of Environmental Protection Agency (1970), the Clean Air Act (1970), the Clean Water Act (1972), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972), and the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974).
By Sydney Combs, Brian Clark Howard, and Lori Cuthbert
