40 Years of Going Green: A Screening of Earth Days

On the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day, the Paley Center screens the definitive history of the environment movement, the American Experience presentation of Earth Days. This acclaimed documentary by Robert Stone examines the sweep of green awareness from the beginnings in the 1950s when the expansion of technology first began to concern scientists to the publication of Rachel Carson’s landmark Silent Spring to the impact of the first Earth Day in which twenty million Americans participated. Cited by the New York Times for its “beautifully composed tribute to visionary thinking and political ingenuity,” Stone’s film illuminates the stories of the green pioneers, including former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, biologist Paul Ehrlich, and Whole Earth Catalog founder Steward Brand. After the screening, panelists will explore the legacy and future of environmental activism.