More than 100,000 New Yorkers celebrated the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, forming the largest gathering in the nationwide celebration. New Yorkers flocked to Union Square for speeches and concerts. Mayor John V. Lindsay closed Fifth Avenue to cars, enabling marches and picnics in the blocked-off streets. 

Initiated the previous year by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day events were organized nationally by a handful of young activists and local volunteers. Originally envisioned as an antiwar-style “teach-in” at colleges, Earth Day went beyond campus activism to unite anti-litter campaigns by schoolchildren, mothers who sought cleaner air, protestors of pesticides, and proponents of population control together under the banner of “a future worth living.”

The first Earth Day marked a pivotal event in the birth of the environmental movement, giving New Yorkers new awareness and motivation to “green” their city. Some viewed the festivities as bad for business or a distraction from other issues. Yet, ultimately, support for Earth Day exceeded expectations. By the end of 1970, the Nixon administration established the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air Act. 

Environmentalism gained momentum in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. Residents created recycling centers and community gardens, and environmental justice activists fought pollution sources clustered in poorer neighborhoods. The city is cleaner today, but environmental concerns remain. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 spurred many New Yorkers to confront climate change. In September 2014, over 300,000 people joined the People’s Climate March in Manhattan to urge world leaders to prioritize global warming.