Today we celebrate our beloved Mother Earth. On this day in 1970, Earth Day was founded by fellow cheesehead and Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson. Earth Day was inspired by a massive oil spill in 1969. An oil rig off the coast of Santa Barbara blew a gasket and over the course of 11 ½ days spewed some 200,000 gallons of crude oil into the ocean. The oil slick spread across 800 square miles, killing over 3,000 birds and countless fish, dolphins, seals and other sea life. The Earth Day call to action has led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (1970), the Clean Air Act (1970) and the Clean Water Act (1972). It has motivated a nation and subsequently the world to pass legislation and actively care and protect our planet.
You can take an active role by composting your food waste, recycling your e-waste, and putting an end to junk mail (who wouldn’t want that?!) Follow this link to learn more: Earth_Day_Take_Action. And if that isn’t enough to inspire you, watch this short but powerful clip: Julia-Roberts-Is-Mother-Nature
Fun Fact: “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” was the tagline for a series of 1970s commercials for what product? Dena Dietrich, the daisy-crowned Mother Nature in these commercials, also played Katie Wallace in the hit primetime soap Santa Barbara (1984-1993).
Museum Bites 