How California became the first environmental battleground

Earth Day is April 22, so we look at California’s role as an environmental leader and how the state ranks.
The first fight
The beginning of the national grass-roots environmental movement goes back to a fight by John Muir and the Sierra Club that failed to prevent the construction of the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. Muir and the Sierra Club tried to rally support across the U.S. from 1901 to 1913 to preserve the Hetch Hetchy Valley, which now lies 306 feet below water. The valley was said to be