The root cause

Forty one years ago, a US senator did something unprecedented in his country's history. Helped by environmental activists from across the country, Gaylord Nelson mobilised more than 20 million people on environmental issues. On April 22, 1970, the streets in the US saw a rare political alignment. Republicans and Democrats, city people and farmers, tycoons and labour leaders raised their voice against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife.