Gaylord Nelson and How Earth Day Got Started

• This animated video provides information about Gaylord Nelson, the politician and environmental activist who invented Earth Day.
• Students will learn about Nelson's lifelong mission to protect the environment and spread awareness about environmental issues.

Positives

• Students will learn how environmental ideas started entering into the American consciousness and translated into legislation during the 1970s.
• The video description contains a variety of helpful links to learn more about Gaylord Nelson and Earth Day.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should be familiar with the following terms: civics, government reform, social justice, conservation, and teach-in.
• This resource also includes a Google Slides presentation with audio and a lesson plan to use with the video.

Differentiation

• Social studies classes could use this video and lesson plan to discuss the role that the government plays in monitoring the environment and keeping it healthy.
• History students could expand on the timeline of significant environmental policies and link them to other historic events at each time.
• Science classes could prepare a presentation on Earth Day and present it during a school assembly in order to get the school community excited and prepared for the holiday.
• Other resources on this topic include this lesson plan on creating an environmental-awareness mural, this activity on making plantable seed paper, and this media literacy activity on the government's role in protecting natural resources.