Earth Day turns 50

Tia Nelson, daughter of the founder of Earth Day, sees hope in a new generation of environmental activists

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When the late Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson founded the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, his idea was to have a nationwide teach-in. It succeeded beyond his wildest dreams, as 20 million Americans marched, rallied, took part in cleanups, and demanded action for clean air and water.  

His daughter, Tia, was 13 years old. 

Today, Tia Nelson, who lives and works in Madison, is sheltering-in-place in suburban Washington, D.C., caring for her 93-year-old mother while fielding a busy schedule of interviews coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which is often credited with launching the modern environmental movement. She has followed in her father’s footsteps, serving as managing director of the Madison-based Outrider Foundation, which calls attention to the threats posed by nuclear weapons and climate change.

Outrider seeks to unite people from the left and the right ends of the political spectrum to meet the challenges of climate change. To commemorate the anniversary of Earth Day, the foundation has released a short film,When the Earth Moves. The film is available on YouTube and will be screened at online Earth Day events, including one sponsored by UW-Madison’s own Nelson Institute, the Smithsonian’s Earth Optimism Summit,  EarthX and Earth Day Live.

When the Earth Moves begins with majestic shots of natural beauty and a voiceover from the late Sen. Nelson, who died in 2005: “Our goal is not just the environment of clear air and water and scenic beauty while forgetting about the worst environments,” says Nelson, as the images pivot to poverty-stricken homes, garbage heaps and flooded homes. “Our goal is an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all human beings and all other living creatures.”

This prescient statement from Earth Day’s founder resonates today, when climate change threatens all of us, but disproportionately affects low-income communities and people of color. 

“My father’s original vision on the eve of Earth Day went far beyond clean air and clean water,” says Nelson. “I think it’s unfortunate the environmental movement was slow to hear his message, and it’s critical today, more so than ever. The least fortunate among us suffer the most from lack of access to clean air and clean water and typically do the least in terms of causing the problems that we are experiencing.”

The very existence of Earth is not threatened, says Nelson. But humans have certainly made a mess of it. “I’ll just make one observation: The planet will be just fine. It’s been around for 6 billion years,” says Nelson. “The question is whether humans and nature can find a balance that allows human life to thrive in a sustainable manner for years to come.”

In a political climate that is increasingly polarized, the film’s takeaway is that it is possible to transcend political differences when it comes to climate issues. “My father’s vision for a multi-generational, bipartisan, socially just movement is as resonant today as it was 50 years ago,” says Nelson. 

Nelson spent 11 years heading up Wisconsin’s Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. She left in 2015 after being caught in the maelstrom of Republican efforts to scrub mentions of climate change from state websites. Nelson is not holding a grudge, though, and says the experience informs her current work. “I have always sought to reach across the aisle to build political will for action. My father was masterful at that, and I learned a lot from him,” says Nelson. “What happened to me at BCPL didn't affect my commitment in that regard whatsoever, in fact, it simply strengthened my resolve. Besides, some good Republican public servants came to my defense against those attacks, and I am grateful for that.”

When the Earth Moves brings the idea of bipartisan cooperation to the center of the frame by introducing two climate change activists from different ends of the political spectrum: Varshini Prakash, a youth activist, Green New Deal proponent and co-founder of Sunrise Movement; and former South Carolina U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, a former climate change skeptic who launched a group proposing free-market solutions to climate issues, RepublicEn. “People of different generations and different political persuasions see the climate change crisis as the greatest environmental challenge of our time and will come together to address it,” says Nelson.

Nelson says we have seen many changes as a result of the activism that was sparked on that first Earth Day. “In 1970, on the first Earth Day, every major city in the country suffered from extreme smog, most of the country’s major rivers were unswimmable and unfishable, there was no Clean Air Act, there was no Clean Water Act,” says Nelson. “Because of youth activism and the grassroots response to my father’s call to action, 20 million people gathered on that day. It was successful beyond my father’s wildest dreams. It launched the ‘environmental decade’ in which more environmental laws were passed during any other time in American history, It gave birth to the first green generation, and it changed the course of history. That was an unimaginable outcome.”

Personally, Nelson says she is involved in “a complicated dance between hope and despair. I’ve worked the climate change beat for a long time,” she says, noting that she was working for the Nature Conservancy when George H. W. Bush signed on to the 1992 accords that came out of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. 

“Bush signed the framework on climate change and said the United States would lead the world on addressing the existential crisis of climate change...so I can look back and see many missed opportunities,” says Nelson. “But I can also look forward and think about the fact that my father couldn’t have imagined that the simple act of calling for an environmental teach-in would have that outcome. 

“Could Rosa Parks have known that her single act of defiance would change the trajectory of the Civil Rights Movement?” asks Nelson. “And to use a more contemporary example, could Greta Thunberg know that sitting alone in front of the Swedish parliament with a sign protesting climate change would launch a global youth movement? That’s where I get my inspiration and sense of hope. You get up every day, you do the best you can, you operate to replace values with a sense of agency and urgency and you do your best to make a difference and unimaginably wonderful history-changing things can happen from that.”