roots event, the environmental movement spread
across the country; environmentalism became a
household word and a powerful force in American
public policy. Earth Day 1970 was catalytical for the
founding of the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water,
and Endangered Species Acts. It was also a turning
point in the national consciousness and in the lives
of many people who went on to careers in environ-
mental monitoring and protection.
Environmentalists and their organizations sought
out Hayes to coordinate activities for the twentieth-
anniversary celebration of Earth Day 1990. Three
million dollars was budgeted for the event in the
United States. From its birth two decades earlier, en-
vironmentalism was now firmly planted in the Amer-
ican psyche, integrated and formalized as laws and
policies. It had also served as the inspiration for envi-
ronmental campaigns around the world. The 1990
commemoration triggered a spontaneous response
of grassroots activism international in scope. More
than 200 million people in 141 countries partici-
pated in the celebration. People around the world
were motivated to establish community recycling
programs and to focus efforts on controlling toxic
materials.
Impact Earth Day 1990 activities inspired a host of
policy changes and developments through the de-
cade. The EPA implemented its tree-planting and
tree-registration programs and worked with the
American Forestry Association to promote refores-
tation efforts in other countries. Environmental pas-
sions were high at the U.N. Conference on Environ-
ment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, held in
Rio de Janeiro. The Rio conference brought govern-
mental and nongovernmental workers together to
lay the groundwork for programs of sustainable de-
velopment. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of Earth
Day in 1995, the world community assessed its envi-
ronmental health, particularly with regard to air and
water pollution. In 2000, environmental groups
worked to link five thousand environmental groups
globally through the Internet, an effort uniting
countless millions in more than 180 countries.
The United Nations formally celebrates Earth
Day on the equinox each spring but collaborates
with organizers of the global Earth Day, the Earth
Day Network, to promote public activism and eco-
logically sound practices around the world.
Further Reading
Hayes, Denis.The Official Earth Day Guide to Planet Re-
pair.Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2000.
Nelson, Gaylord, Susan M. Campbell, and Paul A.
Wozniak.Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002.
Ann M. LegreidSee also Air pollution; Clean Air Act of 1990;Earth
in the Balance; Global warming debate; Sustainable
design movement; Water pollution. Earth in the Balance
Identification Environmental book
AuthorAl Gore (1948- )
Date Published in 1992Initially derided as a politically far-left liberal fallacy,
Gore’s book drew worldwide attention to the damage done by
human beings to the environment and ecosystems of the
planet.Public reaction toEarth in the Balance: Ecology and the
Human Spiritranged from ecstatic approval to ridi-
cule and derision of the views presented by then
Tennessee senator Al Gore. First published in 1992,
the book became aNew York Timesbest seller. Gore
received a great deal of praise from environmentally
conscious readers around the world. Others mocked
Gore as “Ozone Al” and his book as an exaggeration
of global environmental damage.
Earth in the Balancewas written after Gore lost a
1988 bid to become president and prior to being in-
augurated vice president in January, 1993, with Pres-
ident Bill Clinton. Critics and admirers alike were
stunned and impressed that a man as politically mo-
tivated as Gore would write a book as controversial as
Earth in the Balancewhile still hoping for elected of-
fice. Though his record as a devout environmental-
ist was one reason Clinton chose Gore, the Clinton
administration’s policies on environmental protec-
tion were largely rhetorical and token, rather than
proactive and meaningful.
In his book, Gore covered the devastation of the
global environment, how it got that way, and what
will happen if effective solutions are not enacted
by world governments and citizens. Gore painted
a very dire picture for the future of the planet if en-282 Earth in the Balance The Nineties in America