Published in the Daily Press in 1980, this photo shows Washington, D.C. officials wearing "bike to work" t-shirts as they promoted an initiative to get commuters to switch to cleaner, healthier methods of travel on Earth Day.

ESCANABA — This image depicting important men cycling for a cause accompanied an article headlined “Speakers warn against environmental backlash,” originally published by United Press International and run in the Escanaba Daily Press on April 23, 1980.

The article included the following details about that year’s Earth Day:

– In Grand Rapids, eight firms received civic awards for cutting their pollution while 1,000 people joined in an environmental cleanup.

– Connecticut Governor Ella Grasso proclaimed the day a reminder of “humankind’s proper place in Earth’s ecology.”

– In New York, Ambassador H. Carl McCall, representing the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said that the U.N.’s goals coincided with those of Earth Day. Both, he said, want to “prevent greed and lust for power” from resulting in “the rape of Earth, the spoiling of the waters, the fouling of the air, the deafening clang of technology and the matricide of mother nature.”

– Described as a “founding father of the modern ecology movement,” Barry Commoner warned people to beware of polluters “using public disenchantment with federal regulations to gut environmental law.”