<P> On January 28, 1969, a well drilled by Union Oil Platform A off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, blew out . More than three million gallons of oil spewed, killing over 10,000 seabirds, dolphins, seals, and sea lions . As a reaction to this natural disaster, activists were mobilized to create environmental regulation, environmental education, and Earth Day . Among the proponents of Earth Day were the people in the front lines of fighting this disaster, Selma Rubin, Marc McGinnes, and Bud Bottoms, founder of Get Oil Out . According to Kate Wheeling, Denis Hayes told her that Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin saw the Santa Barbara Channel 800 square - mile oil slick from an airplane, which gave him the impetus to organize Earth Day . </P> <P> On the first anniversary of the oil blowout, January 28, 1970, Environmental Rights Day is celebrated, where the Declaration of Environmental Rights is read . It had been written by Rod Nash during a boat trip across the Santa Barbara Channel while carrying a copy of Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence . The organizers of Environmental Rights Day, led by Marc McGinnes, had been working closely over a period of several months with Congressman Pete McCloskey (R - CA) to consult on the creation of the National Environmental Policy Act, the first of many new environmental protection laws sparked by the national outcry about the blowout / oil spill and on the Declaration of Environmental Rights . Both McCloskey (Earth Day co-chair with Senator Gaylord Nelson) and Earth Day organizer Denis Hayes, along with Senator Alan Cranston, Paul Ehrlich, David Brower and other prominent leaders, endorsed the Declaration and spoke about it at the Environmental Rights Day conference . According to Francis Sarguis, "the conference was sort of like the baptism for the movement ." Nash, Garrett Hardin, McGinnes and others went on to develop the first undergraduate Environmental Studies program of its kind at the University of California at Santa Barbara . </P> <P> The first Earth Day celebrations took place in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States . More importantly, it "brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform ." It now is observed in 192 countries, and coordinated by the nonprofit Earth Day Network, chaired by the first Earth Day 1970 organizer Denis Hayes, according to whom Earth Day is now "the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated by more than a billion people every year ." Walt Kelly created an anti-pollution poster featuring his comic strip character Pogo with the quotation "We have met the enemy and he is us" to promote the 1970 Earth Day . Environmental groups have sought to make Earth Day into a day of action to change human behavior and provoke policy changes . </P> <P> In the winter of 1969--1970, a group of students met at Columbia University to hear Denis Hayes talk about his plans for Earth Day . Among the group were Fred Kent, Pete Grannis, and Kristin and William Hubbard . This group agreed to head up the New York City activities within the national movement . Fred Kent took the lead in renting an office and recruiting volunteers . "The big break came when Mayor Lindsay agreed to shut down Fifth Avenue for the event . A giant cheer went up in the office on that day," according to Kristin Hubbard (now Kristin Alexandre).' From that time on we used Mayor Lindsay's offices and even his staff . I was Speaker Coordinator but had tremendous help from Lindsay staffer Judith Crichton ." </P>

Where was the first earth day celebration located
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