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Responding to widespread environmental degradation, Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, called for an environmental
teach-in, or Earth Day, to be held on April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated that year, and Earth Day is now observed on
April 22 each year by more than 500 million people and several national governments in 175 countries.
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Ron Cobb created an ecology symbol, which was later adopted as the Earth Day symbol. It was published on 7 November 1969, in the
Los Angeles Free Press and then it was placed in the public domain. The symbol was a combination of the letters "E" and "O" taken from
the words "Environment" and "Organism", respectively. Look magazine incorporated the symbol into a flag in their 21 April 1970 issue.
The flag was patterned after the flag of the United States, and had thirteen alternating green-and-white stripes. Its canton was green
with the ecology symbol being where the stars would be in the United States flag.
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