Fifty years ago America was just waking up to the reality of environmental pollution: Rachel Carson had published “Silent Spring,” heralding the modern environmental movement and raising America’s consciousness about the impact of DDT pesticide use on the environment and public health. Then in 1969 Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught fire due to the oil-soaked debris consuming it and the country’s then-largest oil spill occurred in Santa Barbara, California.The culmination of these events inspired the call for a national day promoting environmental education and lead to the creation of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.That year millions of Americans spanning social, political, and economic spectrums joined together in service and to protest that oil spills, air pollution, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides and wildlife extinction were ruining the American landscapes, waterways and skies. This movement led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Richard Nixon.