1970 in the environment

This is a list of notable events relating to the environment in 1970. They relate to environmental law, conservation, environmentalism and environmental issues.

Events

• The California Environmental Quality Act is passed into law and signed by then California Governor Ronald Reagan.
• Francis A. Schaeffer publishes Pollution and the Death of Man.^[1]
• Natural Resources Defense Council is founded.
• League of Conservation Voters is founded.

January

• The United States National Environmental Policy Act becomes effective.

February

• US President Richard Nixon gave the nation's first presidential message on the environment.^[2]

April

• The first Earth Day took place on April 22, organized by Gaylord Nelson, former senator of Wisconsin, and Denis Hayes, Harvard graduate student. Twenty million people participated in teach-ins in the United States.^[3]
• US President Richard Nixon signed the Environmental Quality Improvement Act.^[4]
• Joni Mitchell releases Big Yellow Taxi, a song inspired by her seeing parking lots in Hawaii: "They paved paradise to put up a parking lot".

October

• On October 16, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Phil Ochs perform at a benefit concert for the Don't Make a Wave Committee, the organization that would become Greenpeace, at the Amchitka concert.

December

• The United States Environmental Protection Agency is formed.
• President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act of 1970.
• Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution, wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

See also

• Environment portal

• Human impact on the environment
• List of environmental issues
• List of years in the environment