Santa Barbara Celebrates 55 Years of Earth Day: From 1969 Oil Spill to Climate Action in 2025

Earth Day’s Stanford roots – and the urgency of renewed activism

On January 28, 1969, an oil well off the coast of Santa Barbara, California blew out, spewing so much crude into the Pacific Ocean that the oil slick covered 800 square miles. The disaster killed more than 3,600 seabirds and unknown numbers of dolphins, elephant seals, sea lions and other marine animals and fouled 40 miles of beaches. Six months later, an oil slick on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio actually caught fire. Local residents sh…

Earth Day making a difference for 55 years

What started as an environmental movement in 1970 has cascaded into mountains of awareness and change through the years of how people treat the planet.

Every year, on April 22, Earth Day is celebrated, an event dedicated to protecting the environment, but also to raising awareness of the ecological problems facing planet Earth. The event was first inaugurated in 1970, in the United States of America. How is Earth Day marked?

Earth Day 2025: Top events happening in the United States, a complete guide

Earth Day 2025 is here and there are a plethora of events happening across the US to choose from. We have curated a list of some popular Earth Day 2025 buzz.

Santa Barbara Celebrates 55 Years of Earth Day: From 1969 Oil Spill to Climate Action in 2025

KEYT’s Jennifer Mansback reports on the 1991 Earth Day celebration in Santa Barbara. SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Fifty-six years ago, a disaster off the coast of Santa Barbara sparked the creation of Earth Day, a movement that continues to focus on educating the next generation, as it did in 1991. Thirty-four years ago, children gathered at Santa Barbara's De La Guerra Plaza to celebrate Earth Day. At the time, key concerns included deforestation, o…

Earth Day: Many Battles Won, But the War is Lost

This week marks 55 years since the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. The genesis of the first Earth Day had begun a few months earlier when the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland literally caught fire because of the chemicals that had been dumped into the river by nearby industrial plants. The blaze was broadcast on national TV news, sparking (no pun intended) the environmental movement. Earth Day led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Ag…