Earth Day: A History...

Acterra's history is closely entwined with Earth Day, the global holiday in April when people around the world renew their dedication to protecting the Earth.

The Peninsula Conservation Center Foundation (PCCF) was founded shortly after the original Earth Day in 1970 as a home for fledgling environmental groups on the San Francisco Peninsula. Twenty years later, one of the groups under the PCCF's wing was Bay Area Action (BAA), which grew out of the 20th anniversary of Earth Day in 1990. In 2000, the PCCF and BAA merged to become Acterra: Action for a Sustainable Earth.

From its inception in 1990 until its merger with the PCCF in 2000, Bay Area Action was the coordinator of Bay Area Earth Day, that each year built a coalition of organizations, presented a theme for that year's events and efforts, and served as a Bay Area-wide hub of information, resources, advertising, and action. Today, Earth Day continues to play an important role at Acterra as a time to celebrate progress, identify critical challenges and commit to future actions for the Earth.