An ecological Mardi Gras lasting from noon to midnight sprang up along 14th Street from Third to Seventh Avenues. This day, "many more than" 100,000 onlookers saw teach-ins, lectures, and a non-stop frisbee game at the famous intersection. Much of the crowd's interest centered on Union Square, a crossroads of political ferment during the 1930s. Along its broad path, multitudes choked the streets and sidewalks. Lindsey decided to commemorate the day in high style, closing traffic for two hours on Fifth Avenue, from 14th Street to Central Park. Yet Earth Day, forged in an era of strife and change, had its own personality marijuana smoke may have hung in wisps over some of the day's festivities, but violence and confrontation were nowhere to be seen. Since the mid-1960s, the streets has become a common outlet for political and social discontent. The context of Earth Day 1970, however, was far from celestial, reflecting the turbulence of the time. When the astronauts turned their cameras homeward, capturing the image of a delicate blue planet, the world looked upon itself with fresh understanding. The first Earth Day may have been prompted, in part, by the recent moon landings.
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