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Welcome to The Takeaway. I'm Melissa Harris Perry. It's good to have you with us. Today, we're

revisiting some conversations around Earth Day. Let's get to it. On the first flight of the day

between Los Angeles and San Francisco, an oil company executive exchanged pleasantries with a fellow

passenger in the window seat.

Glancing down at the oil rigs, dotting the Santa Barbara Channel, the passenger remarked

that something looks strange at Union Oil's newly erected platform A.

Leaning over to look, the oil man paled visibly.

Oh my God, he murmured. What he saw was the start of the Santa Barbara Oil spill.

You're listening here to a 1984 documentary produced by Eric Warbulowski. The film was part of a large

conference hosted by the University of California to examine the effects of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill.

That 35-mile long spill released more than 3 million gallons of crude oil into the Pacific, killing birds, fish, and sea animals.

Responding to the disaster, the junior senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson,

established Earth Day in 1970.

The senator's goal was to focus the country's attention on our responsibilities

to protect the resources of the natural world.

Here's legendary CBS anchor Walter Cronkite reporting on the very first Earth Day.

Good evening.

A unique day in American history is ending.

A day set aside for a nationwide outpouring of mankind seeking its own survival.

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