The History of World Environment Day, and the Year San Francisco Hosted It
Every June 5 the United Nations marks World Environment Day, and each year one host leads it. The history of World Environment Day reads better through a single host year, and San Francisco’s, in 2005, left a document that other cities went on to model their programs on: the Urban Environmental Accords.
Quick answer
When did World Environment Day start?
World Environment Day is the United Nations’ annual day for the environment, held on June 5. The UN General Assembly established it in 1972, and it was first celebrated in 1973 under the slogan “Only One Earth.” Since 1988 the main celebration has moved between host countries; San Francisco hosted in 2005.
From Stockholm to “Only One Earth”
The day grew out of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, which UNEP calls “considered the world’s first environmental summit”. UNEP records that it was “Established by the UN General Assembly in 1972” and “first celebrated on 5 June 1973”.
That first year, hosted by Switzerland, “World Environment Day was celebrated for the first time with the slogan ‘Only One Earth.’” Half a century later, in 2022, Sweden used the same words to mark Stockholm’s 50th anniversary.
An expo in Spokane
In 1974 the United States took its turn. President Nixon proclaimed that “June 5 will mark the second anniversary of World Environment Day.” He tied it to a world’s fair: “On May 4, 1974, I had the pleasure of helping to inaugurate EXPO ’74, a six-month long exhibition in Spokane, Washington, dedicated to the improvement of the human environment.”
The Bureau International des Expositions says Expo ’74 “was the first to have a theme linked to the environment”, under the motto “Progress without Pollution”. Spokane’s newspaper later called its June 5 the first World Environment Day, but UNEP and Nixon both date the first to 1973.
From then on, the themes followed the global agenda. In 1987 UNEP presented its first Global 500 awards, with Wangari Maathai among the winners, and in 1988 “The main celebrations began to rotate around the globe, starting in Bangkok, Thailand.”
World Environment Day in San Francisco: winning 2005
In June 2004 the city announced: “San Francisco has been selected host city for World Environment Day 2005, the first time ever in North America.” The safe reading is that San Francisco was the first North American city to host the rotating main celebration, since the United States had marked the day at Expo ’74.
The choice had a symbolic edge. “2005 is also the 60th anniversary of the United Nations, which was founded at the 1945 charter convention in San Francisco.” Kofi Annan called the city the “birthplace of the United Nations”. The 2005 theme, in UNEP’s wording, was “Green Cities: Plan for the Planet!”
Five days of mayors
Mayors from around the world met in San Francisco from June 1 to 5, 2005. Mayor Gavin Newsom called it “the first United Nations conference to focus on urban environment”. “The conference began June 1 when California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, flanked by the participating mayors, signed an Environmental Action Plan to reduce the state’s emissions of greenhouse gases.”
The visitors toured a recycling plant, “rode zero-emission vehicles including hydrogen fuel cell buses and a 1907 cable car, and on Sunday walked through Muir Woods, retracing the steps of the U.N.’s founders 60 years ago”. A Green Cities Expo filled Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, on June 3 to 5. The city counted “more than 300 community events and activities” around the Bay Area.
Twenty-one actions in the rotunda
On June 5 the mayors signed the Urban Environmental Accords in the rotunda of City Hall. “One by one, each mayor stepped forward to sign the Accords document, which sets out 21 specific actions for sustainable urban living.” The actions covered “water, energy, waste, urban design, transportation, urban nature, and environmental health”. The Associated Press stressed that “The nonbinding accords list 21 specific actions that can make cities greener.”
Jared Blumenfeld of the city’s environment department drew the parallel with 1945: “the original 50 founding delegates signed the U.N. Charter in San Francisco. Today, Mayor Newsom has brought together 50 of the largest and most visionary cities on the planet”. San Francisco’s release on the signing of the Accords also records a 1,000-person gospel choir.
| Area | Sample action |
|---|---|
| Energy | Renewable energy for ten percent of the city’s peak electric load within seven years |
| Waste | Zero waste to landfills and incinerators by 2040 |
| Urban design | A green building rating standard for all new municipal buildings |
| Urban nature | A public park or open space within half a kilometer of every resident by 2015 |
| Transportation | Cut single-occupancy commute trips by ten percent in seven years |
| Environmental health | Locally grown and organic food in twenty percent of city facilities within seven years |
| Water | Access to safe drinking water for all by 2015 |
A whale on Ocean Beach
Antenna Theater, based across the Golden Gate in Sausalito (a town with its own history as an art colony), billed its headphone walk A Body of Water as part of World Environment Day 2005. It ran on Ocean Beach in San Francisco from May 26 to June 19, bracketing June 5. No city or UNEP page lists it; the link to the day is Antenna’s own description.
Participants would “wear headphones and walk along the beach, or sit on the beach”. The soundtrack “tells the story of one person’s tale of mid life crisis which ultimately leads to a new appreciation of the importance of water and the Earth’s environment.”
The main visual was a giant whale slotted together without fasteners, and the sculptures stood on the beach “for participants and the general public to view”. A west coast tour was announced for 2006 but none is recorded. For the form behind it, see what ecotheatre is.
What the Urban Environmental Accords left
About 50 mayors gathered for the signing. A 2007 staff report from the City of Burbank counted 87 initial signers, and said 12 more had joined by October 2006, “bringing the total participation to 99”. Cities were urged to complete as many actions as they could before World Environment Day 2012, and San Francisco’s own page says the city then adopted three Accords actions per year.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1972 | UN General Assembly establishes the day after the Stockholm conference |
| 1973 | First observance, “Only One Earth”, Switzerland |
| 1974 | Marked at Expo ’74 in Spokane; Nixon’s proclamation |
| 1987 | First Global 500 awards, including Wangari Maathai |
| 1988 | Main celebrations begin rotating, starting in Bangkok |
| 1992 | Held in Rio during the Earth Summit |
| 2005 | San Francisco hosts; Urban Environmental Accords signed |
| 2022 | Sweden marks Stockholm’s 50th with “Only One Earth” |
The full list of hosts and themes is on UNEP’s World Environment Day history page. Another anniversary year told on this site is the history of the Columbus quincentennial, and Antenna’s outdoor work is gathered under Antenna’s new theater forms.
Frequently asked questions
Has the United States hosted World Environment Day?
Yes. UNEP lists the United States for 1974, when the day was marked at Expo ’74 in Spokane, and for 2005, when San Francisco hosted.
What are the Urban Environmental Accords?
A nonbinding list of 21 actions in seven areas, from energy to water, signed by mayors in the rotunda of San Francisco City Hall on June 5, 2005.
How many cities signed the Accords?
About 50 mayors gathered for the ceremony. A City of Burbank report counted 87 initial signers and 99 by October 2006.
Was there art in San Francisco’s World Environment Day?
Among the many community events, Antenna Theater staged A Body of Water, a headphone walk on Ocean Beach from May 26 to June 19, 2005, which the company billed as part of World Environment Day.