Earth Day

Hello there. My name is Gaylord Nelson, and I want to tell you about a very special day. For my whole life, I have loved America’s beautiful outdoors. I loved tall green trees that reached for the sky, rivers that sparkled in the sun, and air that was fresh and clean to breathe. But as I got older, I started to feel a little sad. I saw rivers that looked brown and yucky instead of sparkly blue. I saw skies in big cities that were filled with gray, hazy smoke that we called smog. It made me worry about our wonderful planet. One day, I saw how powerful young people were when they spoke up about things they cared about. They had so much energy and so many great ideas. That’s when a thought popped into my head like a bright lightbulb. What if we had one special day, just for the Earth? A day when everyone in the whole country could come together and show how much we care about our planet and learn how to protect it.