Bay Area activist John McConnell in 1969 proposed to San Francisco a new holiday to be called Earth Day on nature's first day of spring, the Equinox, around March 21. In 1970 local anti-Vietnam War and Environmental Teach-in activists planned a one-time event for April 22 and decided to call it Earth Day. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets to demand a cleaner, healthier environment. __
