EARTH DAY 2020: A look back in time at pollution, environmental protests throughout the years
A Pace College student in a gas mask "smells" a magnolia blossom in City Hall Park on Earth Day, April 22, 1970, in New York. (AP Photo)AP
President Lyndon Johnson signing Clean Air Act in Washington on December 17, 1963 . (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs)Henry Burroughs/AP
The U.S automobile population is estimated at 104.7 million. The automobile may be man's most popular technical product, and his deadliest enemy, indicted by President Nixon as "our worst polluter of the air," shown May 14, 1970. It doesn't itself emit actual smog, but it does emit materials which, in static atmospheric conditions and when baked by sunshine, form smog: hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen. It also emits carbon monoxide, which can be a deadly poison when concentrated. (AP Photo/Jerry Mosey)Jerry Mosey/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Students, right, some wearing gauze masks, hold a rally in front of the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., to demonstrate against air pollution, April 15, 1970. (AP Photo/Walter Zeboski)Walter Zeboski/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Only three buildings and several columns of smoke venture above this dense fog blanket which settled over Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a few minutes, reducing visibility to zero and tying up traffic, Jan. 15, 1944. The Mayor Hotel, center, is a 19-story structure. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Johann Schultz of Staten Island, NY adjusts the sign on her car at Outerbridge Crossing linking Staten Island and Perth Amboy, NJ, March 4, 1967, signifying the intent of a motorcade that left Staten Island and toured New Jersey cities to protest pollution that drifts onto Staten Island from Garden State. (AP Photo)Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Autos and trucks crawl along the Hollywood Freeway through one of the worst fogs in years, Nov. 26, 1954. Police counted more than 1,300 collisions during a two-day period as a result of the fog, but most of them were the bumper vs. fender variety because the fog prevented speed. (AP Photo/Ellis R. Bosworth)Ellis R. Bosworth/AP
This ugly cloud of smoke spread over the Binghamton area from a suspicious fire that burned thousand of scrap rubber tires of the Triple Cities Rubber Co., just southeast of Binghamton, New York, Dec. 23, 1970. (AP Photo)PFK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Betty Cook, a lab assistant at the Stanford Research Institute, is shown taking a "blink test" as part of a project to study smog in Stanford, Calif. April 27, 1949. The test gauges eye irritation through photoelectric cells which record each blink of the eyes. The plastic helmet is filled with measured amounts of smog. Mrs. Cook wears glassless goggles which act as blink recorders. She reads a book to give uniform reaction conditions.The smog project is being conducted by the Air and Water Pollution Laboratory and Fumes of the Western Oil and Gas Association. (AP Photo/Ernest K. Bennett)Ernest K. Bennett/AP
This photo shows the heavy traffic on the George Washington Bridge, one day after it officially opened, at the New York City entrance on Oct. 25, 1931. In its first 12 hours of toll operation, more than 40,000 autos and 30,000 pedestrians passed over the new bridge, which connects New Jersey to Manhattan. (AP Photo)AP
War surplus gas capes are used by Meriel Bush, left, and Ruth Neuer, in an attempt to dodge the eye-stinging effects of a low-hanging smog and smoke which enveloped Philadelphia for the second straight day, Nov. 20, 1953. Freak weather conditions throughout the east have been blamed for the haze. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
The clock at right center shows a quarter to noon, but in downtown Pittsburgh, Pa., residents walked in artificially lighted streets, Jan. 19, 1944. Trolley motormen and motorists used their headlights and storekeepers switched on their signs when one of the heaviest smogs in the city's history blanketed the town. (AP Photo/Walter Stein)Walter Stein/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Downtown Los Angeles skyscrapers loom dimly through the smog as seen from Dodger Stadium a mile and half away, July 26, 1973. Predictions of heavy smog prompted some federal agencies to close down offices or operate them with skeleton crews in an effort to reduce pollution by cutting down the number of vehicles on streets and freeways. Local air pollution control officials said the move had no effect on the smog problem. (AP Photo/Wally Fong)Wally Fong/AP
This photo shows the heavy traffic on the George Washington Bridge, one day after it officially opened, at the New York City entrance on Oct. 25, 1931. In its first 12 hours of toll operation, more than 40,000 autos and 30,000 pedestrians passed over the new bridge, which connects New Jersey to Manhattan. (AP Photo)AP
This is an aerial view of the River Rouge Ford Motor Company factory in Dearborn, Mich., shown Dec. 28, 1922. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
This is the main business district of Donora, Pa., seen Oct. 30, 1948, where 20 persons were reported dead and 7,000 others -- half the town's population -- sickened from the effects of the smog. Sunlight is virtually obliterated by the thick low hanging pollution. (AP Photo/Walter Stein)WALTER STEIN/AP
This scene was a typical one in Los Angeles, Nov. 26, 1954, as a dense fog limited visibility in many areas to half a block or less and paralyzed land, sea and air transportation. Scene is in the heart of the Civic Center at First and Spring Streets. (AP Photo/Ellis R. Bosworth)Ellis R. Bosworth/AP
This aerial view of Los Angeles, Calif., shows the complex of freeways, new construction, familiar landmarks and smog, Dec. 20, 1962. In the foreground is the Harbor Freeway; just beyond is Bunker Hill where work has begun on the nation's biggest urban redevelopment project; and in the backgound, barely visible through the smog, is the steel framework of the new Dept. of Water and Power office building. (AP Photo/David F. Smith)DAVID F. SMITH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
In a laboratory test chamber, Phyllis Ullman, volunteer test subject, records her reactions in simulated smog conditions, while being observed by Paul L. Magill, Stanford University senior chemical engineer, through a window, April 19, 1949. Miss Ullman makes notes on eye and throat irritation as smog is introduced (center of picture). (AP Photo/Ernest K. Bennett)Ernest K. Bennett/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Smoke from the stacks of the Consolidated Edison plant on New York's East River water front met the eye in this scene along the FDR Drive looking north from 35th Street in Manhattan, June 29, 1970. Smog and humid weather continued to plague the city. Spired structure at left is the Chrysler building and at extreme right is the United Nations' Secretariat building. (AP Photo/Jim Wells)Jim Wells/AP
William D. Ruckelshaus, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, talks of state plans to clean the air during a Washington news conference, May 31, 1972. Pending a court review, he approved plans for nine states and three territories. They are Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, West Virginia, Guam, Puerto Rico and American Samoa. (AP Photo/Henry Burroughs)Henry Burroughs/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Two U.S. sailors peer from observatory of RCA building in New York, Nov. 2, 1952 but find most of Manhattan's famed skyline obscured by heavy smoke. Much of the condition was attributed to forest fires in the midwest and southwest. Plane landings at La Guardia Airport were delayed slightly. (AP Photo/Bob Schutz)Bob Schutz/AP
Flaming oil spurts from the three jets of a "FIDO" fog dispersing unit demonstrated Feb. 9, 1949, at Los Angeles Airport. The field's main landing strip will soon be lined with 392 of the units, permitting planes to land in fog that previously turned them away. The system has never before been installed at a commercial airport. (AP Photo/Ira W. Guldner)Ira W. Guldner/AP
A soot storm swept over a three-mile area in Philadelphia and Mrs. John Long and her six-year-old son, Christopher, awoke like this, June 22, 1953. Hundreds of persons discovered the soot had spread over bed clothing, furniture and sidewalks during the night. The soot was traced to a generating plant of an electric company where a spokesman said failure of a soot-collecting apparatus in the smoke-discharge system was to blame. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Demonstrators who wanted a ban on automobiles, as a step toward reducing pollution, stage a blockade at the busy center-city intersection of Broad and Chestnut streets in Philadelphia, July 30, 1970. Their efforts were short-lived as police carted them off. Meanwhile much of the smog remained over the East. (AP Photo/Bill Ingraham)Bill Ingraham/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A general view of the Haig Pit coal mine in Whitehaven, England, where an explosion occurred around Jan. 31, 1931. (AP Photo)AP
A gasoline station attendant on New York Citys Henry Hudson Parkway glances at his watch as he serves the last customer before the 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew, Aug. 3, 1941. A sign reminds the inbound motorists that the station is to close during the 12-hour period in response to the government request that sales be suspended in eastern seaboard states. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Margaret Klein, left, and Mrs. Marvin Blumenfeld sacrificed glamour for expedience as they passed out a health bulletin,"A woman's view of air pollution," in front of Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, Sept. 27, 1966. Inside, members of the East-West Coordinating Council were holding a hearing on air pollution in the metropolitan area. (AP Photo)PD/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Students form a train under a cloth to represent a worm at a gathering in Hong Kong, April 22, 1990, to mark Earth Day and promote awareness of environmental pollution. Organizers say the students were publicizing pollution threats to worm life. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)Vincent Yu/AP
South Korean children carry pickets calling for environmental protection in Seoul as the country marks Earth Day, April 22, 1990. Several hundred people gathered in the steady rain to celebrate the day. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-Joon)Ahn Young-Joon/AP
President Clinton and Vice President Gore take a break on an overlook of Great Falls in Great Falls, Md., Monday April 22, 1996. After a few hours sleep and a 10-hour flight from Moscow, the president joined the vice president, in helping celebrate Earth Day by clearing debris in the national park, pledging the park system will remain "as long as there is an America." (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)RON EDMONDS/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Members of various environmental organizations rally in front of the government's environmental department in Quezon City, suburb of Manila Monday, April 22, 1996 on the occasion of the worldwide celebration of Earth Day. The groups were protesting some of the government's projects which they claim affects the environment adversely. (AP Photo/Fernando Sepe Jr.)FERNANDO SEPE JR./Associated Press
Earth Day demonstrators add trees and shrubs to a police barricade at the 59th street entrance to New York's Central Park Wednesday, April 22, 1992. Enviornmental groups involved are calling for a more permanent barricade and laws that would prohibit motor vehicles from entering the park. (AP Photo/Ed Bailey).ED BAILEY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York City police arrest a demonstrator during a post-Earth Day protest in the Wall Street district, April 23, 1990. Police closed part of Wall Street to traffic and most pedestrians, and arrested 173 demonstrators who staged a protest aimed at disrupting business in the financial center. (AP Photo/Osamu Honda)Osamu Honda/AP
Earth Day founder Denis Hayes poses with an Earth Day sign outside Earth Day headquarters in Palo Alto, California on April 21, 1990. Earth Day is set for Sunday, April 22 with environmental activities planned throughout the world. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)Paul Sakuma/ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, April 22,1980-- A group of anti-nuclear demonstrators wear masks and haul a giant peanut-like float in Washington Tuesday in connection with celebration of Earth Day 1980.(AP Photo/Wilson)Wilson/AP
The planet Earth is surrounded by ignorance, greed, apathy and self interest April 22,1980 during Earth Day activities on the Capitol steps in Atlanta. The actors circulated through the crowds quietly shaking hands while speakers spoke in celebration of ecology. (AP Photo/Harvey Georges)Anonymous/AP
Bicyclists travel down New York City's Fifth Ave. near E. 49th St. on the way to City Hall as they observe "Earth Day" on April 22, 1971. They are part of a group of about 50 persons who are making the one-half hour ride from Central Park to the City's headquarters. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
People stroll and enjoy sunshine on Madison Avenue near 48th Street in New York, on Earth Day, April 19, 1971. The northbound lanes of Madison were closed to vehicular traffic except buses. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)Marty Lederhandler/AP
Anti-pollution demonstrators stand by as wooden police barriers, used to contain crowds attending an Earth Day demonstration, burn in New York's Central Park, March 21, 1971. The incident sparked violence involving crowds of young people, mounted police, and firemen who came to douse the blaze. Police report several of the demonstrators were arrested. (AP Photo)AP
FILE - In this April 22, 1970, file photo, demonstrators stand around wooden boxes with men and women during an Earth Day mock funeral at Logan International Airport, Boston. The group held a rally protesting the airport's air pollution, expansion and the coming of super sonic jets. Some 15 demonstrators were arrested by state police who charged them with blocking foot passages in the lobby of the airport. (AP Photo).AP
Hundreds of young persons listen to Earth Day speakers after cleaning up the park while atop the equestrian statue, one young man is putting the finishing clean-up touches on a statue at New York's Union Square Park, April 22, 1970. (AP Photo)Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Julie Pierce emerged from the Milwaukee River covered with filth and oil as her Shorewood High School conducted a constructive demonstration by cleaning debris from the shoreline of a park in Shorewood, a Milwaukee suburb, April 22, 1970. The high school junior was participating in the national observance of Earth Day. (AP Photo/Paul Shane)Paul Shane/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kenneth Opat is squirted with oil pistols by Dorothy Goldsmith, left, and Rita Webb, at Tulane University in New Orleans as students tagged Louisiana's oil industry with the "polluter of the month" award, April 22, 1970. The demonstration was part of the first observance of Earth Day. (AP Photo)Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Demonstrators stand around wooden boxes with men and women during an Earth Day mock funeral at Logan International Airport, Boston, April 22, 1970. The group held a rally protesting the airport's air pollution, expansion and the coming of super sonic jets. Some 15 demonstrators were arrested by state police who charged them with blocking foot passages in the lobby of the airport. (AP Photo).ASSOCIATED PRESS
A participant at Earth Day celebrations at Union Square in New York City carries sign protesting killing, April 22, 1970. Thousands crowded the square, where official observances were held, and Fifth Avenue all the way to 59th Street, where vehicles powered by internal combustion engines were banned. (AP Photo)Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A group of Clark College students attempted to dramatize air pollution by taking walks around Vancouver wearing gas masks as an Earth Week project, April 21, 1970. "Were trying to show the effects of pollution, but most ignore us," said one of them, Ken Cochran. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Earth Day" demonstrators trying to dramatize environmental pollution conclude their rally at the Interior Department in Washington April 22, 1970, leaving spilled oil in their wake. The oil was used to protest pollution by off-shore oil drilling. (AP Photo).ASSOCIATED PRESS
Partially treated sewage is photographed in the Passaic River at Boonton by a purification official, April 1968. (AP Photo)AP
Bob Gilbert waves a flag of the earth on the west front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Sunday, April 22, 1990 during a rally on the twentieth anniversary of the first Earth Day. Over 100,000 people attended the rally in the nation's capital. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson)GREG GIBSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chris Egan adds trash to a large spider-like monster on the Mall in Washington Friday, April 21, 1990 during the Earth Day Expo. The Expo is held in conjunction with the Earth Day celebration. (AP Photo / Barry Thumma)BARRY THUMMA/AP
Children celebrate Earth Day in New York Friday, April 20,1990 as they stand on the steps of the Museum of Natural History showing off a mile-long banner decorated with the handprints of children from across the nation who have pledged to honor the earth. (AP Photo / Richard Drew)RICHARD DREW/AP
Police officers subdue a demonstrator in New York's Central Park, March 21, 1971, after an Earth Day demonstration became a melee involving police, firemen, and crowds of young people. The violence began when demonstrators set fire to the wooden police barriers used to contain the crowds, then harassed the firemen who came to put out the blaze. (AP Photo)UNCREDITED/AP
A crowd huddles together against the chilly winds sweeping New York's Central Park Mall during the celebration of Earth Day, March 21, 1971. Some 2,000 people turned out for the occasion on the first day of spring. The celebration, sponsored by "People For Earth Day" included the planting of seeds, free respiratory tests, talks about the ecology, and meditation. (AP Photo/Jim Wells)JIM WELLS/AP
Part of crowd observing Earth Day, including, youngster wearing "Let Me Grow Up:" sign on back relaxes on hilltop in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park Wednesday, April 23, 1970. Crowd made up mostly of young people, was estimated at more than 20,000 persons. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Workmen from the U.S. Parks Service clean up debris left behind from yesterday's Earth Day gathering, April 23, 1970. The scene was made with an extreme wide-angle lens. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty)BOB DAUGHERTY/AP
More than 20,000 mostly young people are gathered on hilltop at Philadelphia's Fairmount Park to celebrate Earth Day, including a little girl wearing a shirt that reads "Let Me Grow Up!" on April 23, 1970. (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS