Earth Day: A Look Back [PHOTOS]

Friday marks the 41st anniversary of Earth Day. Take a look back at the history of Earth Day in this photo gallery, starting from the very first celebration in 1970.

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Earth Day: A Look Back

A crowd of people gather near a large poster of planet Earth calling for "Help!!" on the first Earth Day conservation awareness celebration April 22, 1970, in New York City.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Earth Day: A Look Back

A crowd of people gather near a large poster of planet Earth calling for "Help!!" on the first Earth Day conservation awareness celebration April 22, 1970, in New York City.

Earth Day: A Look Back

Denis Hayes, head of Environmental Teach-In, is seen in the group's offices on April 8, 1970. The Washington organization coordinated activities for the first Earth Day, which included teach-ins on the environmental pollution crisis and overpopulation at campuses across the country.

Earth Day: A Look Back

Members of Beta Sigma Phi fraternity at what was then Boise State College remove old cars from the Foothills above Boise, Idaho, on Earth Day 1970.

Earth Day: A Look Back

"Earth Day" demonstrators trying to dramatize environmental pollution left spilled oil in their wake on April 22, 1970. The oil was used to protest pollution by off-shore oil drilling.

Earth Day: A Look Back

Some of the thousands of environmentalists who took part in Earth Day in 1989 march past Exxon headquarters on New York 's Sixth Avenue. Organizers said the protest marked the start of a worldwide movement against practices that threaten the globe.

Earth Day: A Look Back

Earth Day founder Denis Hayes poses with an Earth Day sign outside headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., on April 21, 1990.

Earth Day: A Look Back

Crowds celebrate Earth Day at San Francisco's Crissy Field while listening to free concerts and celebrity speakers April 22, 1990. The band performing is Nick Gravenites and Pete Sears.

Earth Day: A Look Back

Billy Brage, 6, of Philadelphia signs a quilted flag on the Mall in Washington on April 22, 1995. Kids for a Clean Environment unveiled the flag containing colored squares made by children in 49 states and 18 countries. Thousands of Americans marked the 25th anniversary of the first Earth Day in the shadow of the Capitol, decrying pending federal legislation that they feared would threaten the nation's progress in protecting the environment.

Earth Day: A Look Back

President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore clean flood debris from the C&O Canal in Great Falls, Md., on April 22, 1996, during an Earth Day event. After a few hours' sleep and a 10-hour flight from Moscow, the president helped celebrate Earth Day by clearing debris in the national park, pledging the park system would remain "as long as there is an America."

Earth Day: A Look Back

Paulino Tranje sits inside a mock sewer as he watch the program for the World's Earth Day celebration April 22, 1997, at the Children's Museum in Manila. Children were given the idea of how it is inside the sewer and to educate them on how to save the environment.

Earth Day: A Look Back

More Earth Day Coverage:

- The Earth From Above [PHOTOS]

- Earth Day: The Planet's Most Extreme Places [PHOTOS]

- Earth Day: Endangered Species [PHOTOS]

- Earth Day: A Look Back [PHOTOS]

- On Earth Day, Oil Cleanup Continues in the Gulf [PHOTOS]

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- Green Taxi Company Grows Fleet and Bottom Line

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- California Family Approaches Zero Waste

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