04/23/2026
Today is Earth Day, 2026. The day also has a special relevance to Greylock.
According to an article in the New York Times, activists were planning a national day intended to draw attention to environmental issues in 1970. The group struggled to come up with a catchy name for the day. One of the early ideas was “Environmental Teach-in” which most people in the group thought was not catchy at all. They consulted a supporter who was a major figure in the advertising world named Julian Koenig. A few days later, he sent several suggestions — Earth Day, Ecology Day, Environment Day, E-Day — but he made it quite clear that it should be Earth Day.
The event was planned for April 22, 1970, which was Julian’s 49th birthday. He said that part of his inspiration was that Earth Day rhymed with birthday.
Julian was a long time Greylocker. He spent 12 summers at Center Lake from 1929 through 1940. He was a two-time Captain of the Grey team. He kept his relationships from camp going all throughout his life, and he lived well into his nineties. Here is a photo of Julian in his Greylock days on the 1937 Greylock Basketball squad. Julian is the one on the far left of the photo. He was a great guy.
Julian spoke about his life on an NPR radio special a few years ago. During the special, he mentioned his time at Greylock several times. Here is a link: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/383/origin-story. Then, click on Act One.
Help us celebrate Earth Day and Julian Koenig today.
