The first Earth Day rally, inspired by the student anti-war movement of the late 1960’s, was held on April 22, 1970. On that day, Co-founder Ira Einhorn served as the MC at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, and called on those gathered to take radical action to save the planet.
That humble gathering sparked an even larger “movement” which soon swept the globe. Now, the earthday.org site claims there are one billion “individuals mobilized for action” and more than 190 countries “engaged” in Earth Day initiatives.
I like the Earth. We all like this place, right? But something is off about Earth Day, particularly the founder, Ira Einhorn.
Earth Day’s leaders have distanced themselves from his name. They’ve shifted who they call their founder from Einhorn to a man named Gaylord Nelson, an environmental activist who served as governor of Wisconsin and as a U.S. senator.
Why the shift? Well, here’s an ugly truth you won’t find on the Earth Day site: Ira Einhorn brutally murdered and composted his girlfriend.
Yes, Einhorn, the co-founder of the Earth Day movement, was a murderer. He was even given the nickname, “The Unicorn Killer.”
When his girlfriend Holly Maddux broke up with him and moved to New York, Einhorn threatened to throw her clothes and belongings out into the street if she didn’t come back to get them. When Holly finally did return to get them, the charismatic leader who had preached against violence, murdered her before doing despicable things to her corpse, according to police.
Einhorn was questioned about Holly’s disappearance a few days later, but it took authorities almost two years to realize he was the culprit after they conducted a search of his apartment. It seems his neighbor downstairs had complained about a leak and a foul odor. When police arrived to investigate, they found inside a closet above that neighbor, the beaten and partially mummified body of Holly Maddux crammed into a steamer trunk.
Einhorn was arrested in Philadelphia in 1977, but shockingly jumped bail. He fled the country in 1981 and spent many years hiding from the authorities in Ireland and the United Kingdom. He then moved to Sweden and married a wealthy heiress named Annika Flodin.
But after 23 years on the run and a whole lot of failed negotiations, Einhorn was finally extradited back to the United States and put on trial. He took the stand in his own defense, but the jury quickly found him guilty, and he was sentenced to life without parole. He died in prison at the age of 79 on April 3, 2020.
With that in mind, I guess it’s easy to understand why Earth Day’s leaders have distanced themselves from the name of their co-founder.
There is still something else off about Earth Day. The movement seems to be an excuse to push leftist environmental policies and, not unlike its questionable co-founder, put people second.
The Earth Day site mentions that co-founder Denis Hayes has “agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy.” Huh…
And check this out from the Washington Post on Earth Day 2020 during the height of COVID-19: “What should environmentalists do as the world focuses on a pandemic that is killing people, crashing the economy and upending daily life? Lay the foundation for a broader, deeper climate movement.”
Wait… what? So, it’s April 2020, people are getting sick and dying from a bizarre Chinese virus. The economy is starting to suffer. Our businesses and lives are shaken to the core. What does the Washington Post think we should do? Focus on climate change!
The article went on to say that “opposition to action in 1970 also was not as powerful or implacable. Though business leaders complained about the cost of cleaning up pollution, no industry then had as much at stake as the fossil-fuel industry does now.”
So, Earth Day is used as a rallying cry to combat climate change and gasoline by stopping the evil fossil fuel industry.
There are many reasons to look out for our planet. Pollution is a serious problem. The oceans are drowning in plastic and all kinds of nasty trash. I don’t want to minimize the importance of caring for the earth. But many of Earth Day’s stated goals seem more like a leftist political wishlist than a plan to care for the environment.
April 22is Earth Day. But you know what? It’s also National Jellybean Day. And in light of the information we’ve laid out for you here, you may want to leave your hand-woven hemp sandals at home. Slide on your white leather sneakers and go pick yourself up a big bag of green apple jellybeans and celebrate this rock we call home a little differently this year.
Happy Earth Day!
The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.