[birds chirping]
[acorn drops]
- Gaylord Nelson: You hear the word ecology,
that's a big science, not a narrow one,
it's a big concept, [owl hoots]
and it is concerned with all the ramifications,
of all the relationships,
of all living creatures [bird flutters wings]
to each other and their environment.
- Tia Nelson: This is me with my father.
My name is Tia Nelson
and my dad was Gaylord Nelson.
He is known as the father of Earth Day--
a vision he had for
teachers all across the country
to talk about the environment.
Maybe you've heard of Earth Day.
Maybe you've even participated in an Earth Day event.
[horns honking, crowd cheering]
[alarm clock rings] Before he was the father of Earth Day,
before he was my dad--
he was a little boy growing up in Clear Lake,
in northern Wisconsin. [child laughs]
He loved spending time outdoors [water splashes]
exploring the forests, lakes, and streams of the region.
Nature was his playground!
[footsteps rustle the brush] As he was growing up,
he also got to know the world of civics and government
through his parents.
- Gaylord Nelson: And so, I went to political meetings
with my father and my mother
from the time I was in grade school. [car horn beeps "ahoogah"]
Whenever a speaker came within driving distance,
in our Model T Ford away we went,
40, 50, 60 miles sometimes
just to hear somebody,
hear one of the La Follettes,
give a speech. [train blows whistle, chugs]
- My father was inspired,
and he started thinking about a future for himself...
running for elected office!
[muffled voice speaking to a crowd]
Tia Nelson: That stayed with him as he went to college,
and then law school,
through his time in the U.S. Army during WWII.
When he came back to Wisconsin,
[crowd cheers] he was ready to get his career in politics going!
He ran for the State Senate
and then for governor of Wisconsin.
As governor, he worked on government reform,
social justice causes, and environmental issues.
He created new jobs for young people,
designated lands for public parks,
and worked to conserve our beautiful lakes and rivers.
He accomplished a lot for the people of Wisconsin
and he wanted to make an even bigger impact!
So he ran for the U.S. Senate
to represent Wisconsin citizens in the nation's capital,
and he won!
[classical music]
But when he got to Washington D.C.,
he found that others in government
just didn't seem to care about the environment
as much as he did.
A national conservation tour with President Kennedy
didn't accomplish what he hoped it would,
and few senators would support the laws he proposed
to protect our environment.
[ship blows horn] Some years later,
he went to visit the site of an oil spill
and was devastated by the damage he saw.
On the plane ride home, he read an article about
'anti-war teach-ins' on college campuses.
That's when he got an idea.
- Gaylord Nelson: Teach-ins on the campuses,
teach-ins on the Vietnam War,
and I thought, 'That's a good idea.
why can't we have a nation-wide quote teach-in
on the environment?'
That's where the concept of Earth Day came from.
[airplane engine]
- Tia Nelson: The idea for a teach-in about the environment
started to spread well beyond my dad's original vision!
And when the day came, April 22, 1970,
people all over the country participated.
That day, the first Earth Day,
marked the start of many changes to come
over the next ten years.
They passed laws to keep pollution
out of the air and water--
so many laws that
it became known as the Environmental Decade.
[patriotic orchestra music]
My father was elected to three terms,
serving 18 years in the U.S. Senate.
[crowd clapping] Even after he was finished,
he never stopped fighting for the environment. [crowd cheers]
When asked, at the age of 88,
why he still went to work every day,
he said, "Because the job's not done!"
And he's right!
There is still so much more to do.
- Gaylord Nelson: I don't think there's any other issue
viewed in its broadest sense,
which is as critical to mankind
as the issue of the quality of the environment
in which we live.
[birds chirping] - Tia Nelson: Earth Day lives on,
as does the need to protect and care
for the place we call home.
Each of us has the power
to help make the world a better place.
It's up to you and me to do our part.
[upbeat marching band music]