BU sustainability researchers, such as Professor Cutler Cleveland and Margaret Cherne-Hendrick (GRS’16)—both working to help Boston hit its goal of going carbon free by 2050 (“Fresh Air for Boston,”)—are grappling with what it means to have a climate change skeptic in the White House. But rewind nearly 50 years and being green was much more bipartisan. Even a controversial Republican president—Richard Nixon—was all for it.

In April 1970, BU students took to the streets as part of the first Earth Day, a movement seemingly embraced by those on the left and the right. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an estimated 20 million Americans marched. “If the environment had any enemies,” the New York Times reported, “they did not make themselves known.” Later that year, the Senate passed the Clean Air Act without a single dissenting vote and Nixon founded the EPA.

The demonstration at BU seems peaceful—other photos of the event even show horses being ridden down Comm Ave—but plenty of others in the era were not. In the first year of the decade, BU saw fervent anti-Vietnam War protests. Fires were lit in campus buildings, windows were smashed, bomb threats were made. The administration canceled final exams and Commencement.

If you were at the first Earth Day event, we’d like to hear from you: what did you chant and what did your sign say? Was this your only protest in 1970? If you recognize yourself or an old classmate in the photo, let us know. And we’d really love to hear from you if you rode a horse on Comm Ave.

Tell us about this photo. Email the editor at thurston@bu.edu.