It’s Year 57 of the Eco-Observance that Began in Lower Manhattan
It started as a series of late-1960s “teach-ins” about pollution, Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” and the slightly paranoid belief that NASA was deliberately concealing “full-disk” images taken from orbit of the entire world in a single frame. (This sparked the creation of the Whole Earth Catalog, and led the space agency to prioritize snapping of the famed “Earthrise” photo in 1968.)
The national day of action didn’t really coalesce until a Madison Avenue ad man (Julian Koenig, who had previously come up with “it takes a licking and keeps on ticking” for Timex) was asked to create a brand name for an annual event that would bring attention to the nascent environmental movement. After ruminating for a few days, he came back with a series of e-centric monikers: Ecology Day, Environment Day, and E Day. But the one he liked best was “Earth Day.” (By coincidence, the date organizers chose—April 22—was also the day Koenig was to turn 49, but the legend that he pushed the name that stuck because it rhymed with “birthday” is probably apocryphal.)
Organizers liked the date for a different reason: coming after spring break, but before final exams, the occasion would likely maximize participation by college students across America. So it was that on April 22, 1970, Peter Hallerman (a sophomore at what was called then Pace College) walked across Park Row into City Hall Park. Wearing his mother’s Red Cross gas mask from World War Two, he leaned toward a flower bush just as a photographer snapped what became an iconic image from the first Earth Day.
This year, Earth Day festivities in Lower Manhattan will take place tomorrow (Saturday, April 18), and will pop up in various locations through the week and next weekend. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll find.
Tomorrow, all day, Governors Island is the setting for a range of Earth Day activities, starting with demonstrations of community-focused sustainability projects, and continuing with a compost scavenger hunt, birding tours and tree tours, bike-riding lessons for kids, cyanotype print workshops, and more. The day concludes with a reception at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Arts Center featuring music from the Jazz Loft All-Stars.
On Monday (April 20), the Battery Park City Authority will offer “Birding BPC,” a guided tour starting on Rector Place by naturalists of bird habitats in the community’s parks.
Wednesday, Earth Day, will bring a Bowling Green Park Pickup hosted by the Downtown Alliance from 10am to noon, followed by an afternoon of Earth Day activities at City Hall Park, featuring a new exhibition of bird banners by nature writer and photographer Gail Karlsson.
At 4pm on Earth Day, learn about the sustainability features of Battery Park City’s Wagner Park at a panel discussion, “Building a Greener Waterfront: The Story of Wagner Park” at the park’s pavilion. Gather for a tour of the park beforehand at 3pm.
On Saturday (April 25), the fun continues at City Hall Park from 10am to 1pm, with gardening projects, children’s craft activities, and music. Gotham Park (alongside the Brooklyn Bridge) will host an Earth Day Fair, from noon through 3pm, with gardening, planting, and seed-ball making. And the Urban Farm at the Battery will offer a soil and compost workshop from 4:30pm to 6:30pm.
All events are free, with the exception of the Battery Urban Farm session, which is priced at $15. Please note that these events and many others are listed in the Broadsheet Daily Downtown Calendar every day. To receive the Broadsheet Daily, sign up using the button at the top of this website.