This year is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. It all started on April 22, 1970, when Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin hired a small staff, led by Denis Hayes, to coordinate a series of ‘teach-in’ activities throughout the country. Those teach-ins expanded and evolved into an energetic grassroots effort, and effectively, the beginning of the modern environmental movement. 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day, in multiple events nationwide, ultimately leading to environmental protection laws including the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and amendment to the Clean Air Act of 1963. The Earth Day Network site contains links to events, outdoor activities, lesson plans, fact sheets, and resources for participating in Earth Day activities, and links to partner organization activities. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s Earth Day site and NASA’s Earth Day site also contains information, multimedia, and activities. NSDL partners providing a range of Earth Day resources include the following:

- Earth Day Facts: When It Is, How It Began, What to Do  (Engineering Pathway)

- 04-22-1970 First Earth Day - (EP’s Today in History blog for April 22, 2009)

- Earth Day Recollections: What It Was Like When the Movement Took Off (Engineering Pathway)

- Earth Day Every Day  (Digital Library for Earth System Education - DLESE)

- Earth911 (Environmental & Energy Resources Library - eERL and DLESE) - containing 40 tips 40th Earth Day, articles, challenges, Earth Day events

- Engineering Pathway also provides links to a collection of Renewable Energy, Green Design, and Sustainability resources, and a Green Design and Sustainable Engineering community page