Earth Days

EARTH DAYS is a feature length documentary about the origins of the modern environmental movement, told through the eyes of nine Americans who were inspired to act on what they believed was the most important challenge facing mankind. The film opens in the 1950s when a small group of scientists began to document the impact of our technology on the Earth s ecosystem. Within a decade it seemed to many Americans as if the post-war dream of a better world brought about through science, technology and economic growth the American dream was turning into an unfathomable nightmare. National concern about the environment crystallized on April 22, 1970, when twenty million Americans across the country participated in celebrations and demonstrations the largest in American history demanding political action to protect the environment. Their grassroots call to action led to groundbreaking national legislation, and started a revolution that is still with us. The film features active participants in these watershed events, representing a diverse cross section of American life and politics. Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, renewable energy pioneer Hunter Lovins, biologist Paul Ehrlich, former Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey, and Apollo Nine astronaut Rusty Schweickart are among the witnesses. Each reflects on their awakening to an environmental crisis, and the unprecedented movement that grew out of their response to that crisis.

Director Robert Stone concocts an inspiring and hopeful work in Earth Days, a feature documentary that recounts the history of the modern environmental movement from its beginnings nearly four decades ago. Environmental activism really began with the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, and precipitated an unexpected and galvanizing effect on the national psyche. Told through the eyes of nine very divergent witnesses, including a secretary of the interior, Stewart Udall, who actually cared about the environment; a biologist, Paul Ehrlich; a congressman, Pete McCloskey; and an astronaut, Rusty Schweickart, Earth Days is a visually stunning, globe-spanning chronicle of watershed events and consciousness-changing realizations that prompted a new awareness: the post World War II American dream of a future world created by scientific progress, new technology, and economic expansion was rapidly changing into a nightmare. To the twenty million Americans who demanded change and political action to protect the environment on that first Earth Day, the urgency and scale of the current crisis would have seemed extreme and alarmist. Earth Days is a truly cogent and powerful depiction of the awakening of the world to environmental reality by a dedicated and skilled filmmaker; ignoring its message could imperil us all!