How are YOU helping? For 50 years, the Earth Day movement has inspired us to adopt more sustainable ways of living and doing business. On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day event was organized to draw attention to the effects of the previous 150 years of industrial and technological advancement. Air and water pollution from “oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways” had taken a serious toll on human health.