Earth Day then vs. now: Capitalism is still killing us
NOVANEWS
By Liberation Staff
Cleveland, 1973
On the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, 20 million people marched. Why did so many people come out for Earth Day? Not only was the 1970 march set within a period of mass mobilization in the U.S., but pollution was much worse and much more visible than today. U.S. cities were industrial centers with little regulation of vehicle emissions or industry so large populations experienced pollution first-hand, unlike now where pollution from industry is felt mainly by poor people abroad where U.S. manufacturing has fled to.
In 1970, leaded gasoline was still the norm. The year prior, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire due to the immense quantity of industrial waste being dumped into the river. Until the 1960’s, San Francisco Bay was esse...