Gaylord Nelson, RIP

We have lost a true patriot:

MILWAUKEE - Gaylord Nelson, the folksy Democratic senator from Wisconsin who helped start the modern environmental movement with the creation of Earth Day 35 years ago, died Sunday. He was 89.

Compare this to what happens now:

For the first Earth Day in 1970, tens of thousands of people filled New York's Fifth Avenue, Congress adjourned so members could speak across the nation, and at least 2,000 colleges marked the occasion."I wanted a demonstration by so many people that politicians would say, 'Holy cow, people care about this,'" Nelson once said. "That's just what Earth Day did."