This week on PNM Kelly & Ary discuss the history of the environmentalist movement and the first Earth Day celebration. We’ll talk about how early environmentalist efforts were motivated more by public health concerns than planetary stewardship concerns and where scientists got it wrong. Much like public health efforts facing the country today, the experts behind them were not always listened to and policy tended to be more reactionary than precautionary.

Articles & resources referred to in our show:

PBS Environmentalist Movement Timeline

Walter Cronkite’s 1970 Earth Day message

Legacy of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring

Happy birthday, Earth!