Editing Earth Day (section)

=== The University of Michigan teach-in ===
As the tone of major planned Earth Day activities shifted to become less academic and more confrontational, and the Environmental Action newsletter emphasized the need for broad structural change, interest in the event began to mount among college student activists.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

One place where the interest in a teach-in was robust from the beginning was the [[University of Michigan]]. The first teach-in on the Vietnam War had been held at the University of Michigan in March 1965, and a group of students, led by Doug Scott,<ref name="LinkedIn-2021">{{Cite news |title=Doug Scott |url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-scott-821a0784/ |access-date=February 19, 2021 |publisher=linkedin.com}}</ref> decided to mark the five-year anniversary with an environmental teach-in on March 11–14, 1970.<ref name="EnvironmentalAction-1970">{{Cite magazine |date=March 26, 1970 |title=Michigan teach-in faces societal issues |url=http://www.nelsonearthday.net/docs/nelson_157-2_environmental_action_newsletter_26mar70.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416025716/http://www.nelsonearthday.net/docs/nelson_157-2_environmental_action_newsletter_26mar70.pdf |archive-date=April 16, 2021 |access-date=March 18, 2021 |magazine=Environmental Action |page=2 |volume=1 |issue=6}} Speakers included Senator Nelson, Senator Muskie, Walter Reuther, Ralph Nader, and Barry Commoner.</ref> The Michigan teach-in presented a series of speeches dealing with various environmental problems, along with some debate over the best tactics and solutions. No one, including the president of Dow Chemical, argued for more environmental destruction.

After the University of Michigan teach-in, there was an explosion of interest on other college campuses. Upwards of 2,000 universities, colleges, and junior colleges ultimately put on events.  By the end, the national staff had a hard time merely keeping up with the colleges that called to register events.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}