Proclamation 4119—Earth Week, 1972

For the Nation and for the world, there are few issues of greater moment than the quality of our environment. As civilizations have evolved, man has increasingly altered his world to accommodate his needs. Today, our immense technological expansion affects the earth more than at any earlier time.

The air, water, and natural resources of the earth are not inexhaustible, yet we continue to make major and often contradictory demands on these resources. If man is to preserve the natural heritage upon which his survival and the quality of his life depend, he must make resolute choices and fix uncompromising priorities.

The environmental awakening of recent years marks a new maturity in our attitudes toward the relationship of man to his surroundings. We have made a beginning, but it is only a beginning. Every American—and indeed, every citizen of the world—must endeavor by earnest and sustained effort to nurture this earth which we all share.

Now, Therefore, I, Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the period of April 17 through April 23, 1972, as Earth Week.

I call upon appropriate officials of the Federal Government and of State and local governments to encourage an understanding of the purposes of Earth Week, to observe the week through appropriate ceremonies, and to give special attention to the educating of our citizens in the preservation and enrichment of our natural environment.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-sixth.

RICHARD NIXON