This poster was designed for Environmental Action, a national ecological organization launched on April 21, 1970— the day before the first Earth Day. The radical group combined activism with lobbying, proposing legislative language that contributed to the development of the Clean Air Act later that year. In operation through 1996, Environmental Action took inspiration from the grassroots social movements of the 1960s, focusing the majority of its efforts on ecological issues that, according to its founding statement, affected blue- collar workers, African Americans, and the poor. It was also responsible for publishing the “Dirty Dozen,” a list of the 12 most egregiously anti-environmental congressmen. Ray Osrin was the editorial cartoonist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for 27 years, producing 3,600 cartoons. In this image, he appropriates Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker in a post-apocalyptic, polluted nightmare.
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