Why I wrote a book about Gaylord Nelson

I always had appreciation for Gaylord Nelson, a US Senator from Wisconsin, and a tireless crusader to make the world a better place, including being the founder of Earth Day.

As a boy, Gaylord listened to an inspiring senator named Bob Lafollette and decided that, one day, he would also work to help others through public service.

And Gaylord did so in spades. He wrote or promoted legislation behind the Clean Air and Water Acts, the Wilderness Act (to save natural places), creation/continuation of national trails (including the Appalachian Trail and one in my backyard, the Ice Age Trail), forming the Environmental Protection Agency, and the banning of the chemical DDT (which was essentially driving eagles to extinction). He was a crusader, too, for landmark legislation supporting important non-environmental issues such as Civil Rights.

And he became a hero to me. I still have a letter he wrote to me following the first Earth Day, when I asked him for his bio to help me with a fifth grade report for which I had selected him as my "Great American" (the entire letter is reproduced in my upcoming book, Sophia Saves the Earth: a Story of Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day).

The book I wrote, although highlighting some of his vital environmental accomplishments, doesn't begin to cover the scope of this man's incredible legacy.  But it's a start.

And the world's an infinitely better place for it.