There is no more denying it. As we mark Earth Day 2025, those of us who love our public lands are seeing our parks, lakeshores, forests, and preserves under attack as never before. Widespread firings, budget constraints, hiring freezes, changes in priorities, even talk of privatization and sell-offs are challenging these places like an relentless storm. We are living in difficult times.
It may be a good time to remind ourselves that Earth Day itself was born out of difficult times.
(Original Earth Day poster on file at the New York Pubic Library Collection)
On January 28, 1969, well #21 on Union Oil’s platform A in the Dos Cuadras offshore drilling complex ruptured due to faulty pump parts. Located 5.5 miles southeast of Santa Barbara, California, the fracture resulted in the spewing of over 4 million gallons of oil directly into the Pacific Ocean in what would become the largest U.S. oil spill in history at the time.
With the Environmental Protection Agency not yet in place, no Clean Water Act, or Clean Air Act, the nation was left without legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect the environment. A 35-mile long oil slick would foul over 100 miles of California beaches, kill at least 3,686 sea birds, uncounted sea mammals and more. It would also, however, galvanize a nation and spur environmental action. One of those moved to act was Gaylord Nelson.
Nelson, a former Wisconsin Governor and then a U.S. Senator, happened to be in Santa Barbara that summer for a water quality conference at UC-Berkeley. Viewing the spill from the air, the devestation Nelson witnessed first deeply moved and saddened him. Then came the anger. Why were so few resources available to the public to learn about the dangers posed to the planet by unregulated industry, pollution and a host of other threats? “It suddenly dawned on me,” Nelson recalled later. “Why not a nationwide teach-in on the environment?” The idea for Earth Day was born.
(Earth Day 2025 poster design by Alexis Rockman)
From the first Earth Day held on April 22, 1970, that idea has grown into the largest non-secular gathering on the planet with over a billion people participating over the course of what is now a kind of Earth Week in more than 193 countries. The theme for this, the 55th Earth Day, is “Our Power, Our Planet” to shine the focus on renewable energy and the global action to combat climate change. There will be tree-planting events, trash cleanups, concerts, lectures, and more in some 550 cities around the globe both on Earth Day and all this week.
Here in the Apostle Islands, we will always have a special connection to Earth Day since Gaylord Nelson, the father of Earth Day, was also the driving force behind the legislation to protect these islands. This year, Friends of the Apostle Islands — an organization that Jill and I are a part of as co-Executive Directors —- will be shining a bright light – a lighthouse beacon if you will – on this very special place and on the people dedicated to protecting our national lakeshore through our “Love Our Lakeshore” Initiative. You can be a part of it too.
Join us at 10 am on Saturday, April 26th at the Bayfield Library where we will share refreshments and stories about our love for these islands, gather photographs and quotes to be used in our on-going series on our website and social media, and distribute free “Love Our Lakeshore” yard signs in an effort to “share the love” of our national lakeshore with friends and neighbors. (Yard signs are free but donations will be welcome).
If you can’t make the event but still want a yard sign, contact Friends through our website linked below where you can also add your story to our “Love Our Lakeshore” effort.
These are difficult times. Yet, in the spirit that gave birth to the original Earth Day more than 50 years ago, we hope that Earth Day 2025 can begin to shine a light on the many positive things that can rise out of the challenges we face. May you find strength in the storm.
Happy Earth Day 2025 from the Apostle Islands.
— Jeff Rennicke (all photography by the author unless otherwise noted).
Lovely tribute . Great way to honor the meaning and history of Earth Day. With you in spirit on Saturday