Fellows in Residence
Gaylord Nelson
Founder, Earth Day
Gaylord Nelson, former United States Senator (D-WI), became Counselor of The Wilderness Society in January 1981. Nelson served ten years in the Wisconsin Senate and was twice elected Governor of the state. In addition, in 1962 Nelson began his 18-year career in the U.S. Senate. For 40 years, Nelson has been one of the nation’s foremost environmental leaders, best known as the founder of Earth Day. Nelson, while serving as Wisconsin’s Governor, won approval of a one-cent-per-pack cigarette tax to finance state acquisition of one million acres of parks, wetlands and wildlife habitat. It was the first program of its kind.
Nelson was on Furman’s campus from April 18-20, 2001. On April 19, 2001 at 7:30 pm, he delivered an address, "The Politics of Activism: What it Takes to be an Environmental Leader in the 21st Century," in McAlister Auditorium.
In 1971, Environmental Quality Magazine described Nelson as "the leading environmentalist in the U.S. Senate." He authored legislation to preserve the endangered 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail. His efforts resulted in the establishment of a national trail system in 1986 which included the Appalachian Trail.
Senator Nelson was the first to introduce bills to mandate fuel efficiency standards in authomobiles, control strip mining, ban the use of DDT, and ban the use 245T (agent orange). In due course, all of these proposals were adopted by Congress. Nelson also wrote legislation that created the St. Croix Wild and Scenic Riverway, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, the Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission, and Operation Mainstream/Green Thumb, which employed the elderly in conservation projects.
Co-sponsor of the National Environmental Education Act, Nelson’s best known achievement was the founding of Earth Day in 1970. Described by American Heritage Magazine as "one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy," Earth Day was designed to make environmental protection a major national issue that demanded to be addressed. An astonishing 20 million Americans took part in the first Earth Day and, as American Heritage wrote, "American politics and public policy would never be the same again."