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Wikipedia page "List of protests and demonstrations in the United States by size" says the Hands off protests were the third largest protest in US history (i.redd.it)

submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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cross-posted from: https://50501.chat/post/97685

Originally Posted By u/Northwest_Thrills At 2025-04-07 01:34:57 PM | Source

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Earth Day, 1970. 200 million people in the USA then, so 10% of the country. And look where the earth is now...

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

That 3.5% number is of sustained engagement, not one and done. A single event with lots of people is the beginning of a movement. The work needs to keep going. But, the 1970s did see a lot of environmental progress.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Did you mean to reply to me on that? I was only talking about how crazy the earth day one was, not trying to make a direct comparison. The earth day one was absolutely massive, yet I don't think the climate is in a good place now.

Regardless, I do hope Americans throw off fascism.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

I did. It seemed you were saying that the Earth day 1970 protest didn't do much to help the Earth. That isn't so.

The US EPA was created in July of that year and the Clean Water Act passed in 1972. Banning DDT for Ag in the US in 1972 brought birds of prey lile the Bald Eagle back from near extenction. They were supremely successful at getting legislation passed. The focus was toxic chemicals and pollutants, not climate change as that wasn't really on the radar then. So yes, the climate is in shambles right now, but it wasn't really part of their platform. They mostly got what they wanted from that march and activism then the urgency faded away.