The first Earth Day ever held at UConn was also the first Earth Day, period; Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson had called for a nationwide “teach-in” on April 22, 1970 to draw attention to the grave problems facing the environment, primarily focused on pollution in those days before the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. At UConn, students responded to Nelson’s call by organizing a three-day event that included numerous activities, culminating in a 24-hour “be-in” at the old ROTC hangar that used to sit across the street from the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. There, bands played, films were shown, an “eco-stew” was made from donated food, and the UConn community heard from, among others, a botanist, an oceanographer, a molecular biologist, and a poet.

Around the country, as many as 20 million people participated in Earth Day events, and in December of that year, the Environmental Protection Agency was created as part of an effort by President Richard Nixon to consolidate federal anti-pollution efforts into a single agency. Today, the “be-ins” may be a thing of the past, but Earth Day Spring Fling, sponsored by the UConn Office of Sustainability and Dining Services, is an annual highlight of the semester, offering a variety of activities, vendors of sustainable products, and opportunities to get involved in making the world greener for everyone.