EVERY DAY EARTH

ur blue planet has made more than 18,450 full rotations since the first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970, in major cities and on university campuses across the United States. Gaylord Nelson, a Democratic senator from Wisconsin, who was inspired by the anti-Vietnam War teach-in protests, had first proposed the idea in September 1969 at a small conference in Seattle in order “to shake up the political establishment” and force environmental issues “onto the national agenda.” From there it blossomed into a student-led nationwide campaign. For the commemoration in New York City, mayor John Lindsay sealed off Fifth Avenue from 59th Street down to 14th Street. Hollywood megastars Paul Newman and Allie McGraw gave speeches in Union Square. More than one million people turned out. A 35-year-old artist from Japan named Yukihisa Isobe designed the poster: two arrows, one blue, one green, orbit clockwise around