Earth Day's 40th anniversary

On Saturday, April 17th, 250 Verona residents celebrated Earth Day and pledged to increase their recycling efforts.

I would like to talk about Denis Hayes today, the National Coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970. This event launched the modern American environmental movement, the passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water acts and creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Hayes was born in Wisconsin in 1944, raised in Camas, Washington and he received his undergraduate degree in history from Stanford University, where he was president of the student body and an activist against the Vietnam War. From 1983 to 1988, Hayes was an adjunct professor of engineering at Stanford University and he headed the federal Solar Energy Research Institute during Carter's presidency.

In 1990 he organized the first International Earth Day, with 200 million participants in 141 countries. In 2000 Hayes served as chair of the 30th anniversary of Earth Day. He is head of Earth Day Network, the group coordinating Earth Day activities worldwide.

Hayes is the current President & CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, a $100 million environmental foundation located in Seattle. An environmental lawyer by training, Hayes has published more than 100 articles, books, and papers on energy and the environment.

Time Magazine has named him as “Hero of the Planet" and Los Angeles Times recently interviewed him. Hayes certainly inspires people to become active on protecting our planet on Earth Day and everyday.