Earth Day is April 22 of every year. April 22, 2020 will mark 50 years of Earth Day.
THE FIRST EARTH DAY
Every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.
What was the result of the first Earth Day?
The first Earth Day in 1970 launched a wave of action, including the passage of landmark environmental laws in the United States. The Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts were created in response to the first Earth Day in 1970, as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Many countries soon adopted similar laws. Earth Day continues to hold major international significance: In 2016, the United Nations chose Earth Day as the day when the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was signed into force.
ORIGIN OF EARTH DAY
Earth Day 1970 gave a voice to an emerging public consciousness about the state of our planet —
In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of the consequences from either the law or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Until this point, mainstream America remained largely oblivious to environmental concerns and how a polluted environment threatens human health.
Earth Day 1970 would come to provide a voice to this emerging environmental consciousness, and putting environmental concerns on the front page.
THE IDEA FOR THE FIRST EARTH DAY
Senator Gaylord Nelson, a junior senator from Wisconsin, had long been concerned about the deteriorating environment in the United States. Then in January 1969, he and many others witnessed the ravages of a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, Senator Nelson wanted to infuse the energy of student anti-war protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a teach-in on college campuses to the national media, and persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair. They recruited Denis Hayes, a young activist, to organize the campus teach-ins and they choose April 22, a weekday falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, to maximize the greatest student participation.
Groups that had been fighting individually against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness and the extinction of wildlife united on Earth Day around these shared common values. Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, urban dwellers and farmers, business and labor leaders. By the end of 1970, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of other first of their kind environmental laws, including the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later Congress passed the Clean Water Act. A year after that, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act and soon after the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. These laws have protected millions of men, women and children from disease and death and have protected hundreds of species from extinction.
HISTORY OF EARTH DAY
- 1970- The first Earth Day mobilizes 20 million Americans to call for increased protections for our planet
- 1990- Earth Day goes global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries
- 2000- Earth Day leverages the power of digital media to build millions of local conversations across more than 180 countries
- 2010- Earth Day Network launches A Billion Acts of Green® and The Canopy Project. Earth Day 2010 engages 75,000 global partners in 192 countries
- 2020- Earth Day will mark 50 years with global activations that aim to mobilize a billion people worldwide for transformative action for our planet
Mother Earth sends us a message
Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action. Nature is suffering. Australian fires, heat records and the worst locust invasion in Kenya. Now we face COVID -19, a worldwide health pandemic link to the health of our ecosystem.
Climate change, man-made changes to nature as well as crimes that disrupt biodiversity, such as deforestation, land-use change, intensified agriculture and livestock production or the growing illegal wildlife trade, can increase contact and the transmission of infectious diseases from animals to humans (zoonotic diseases) like COVID-19.
From one new infection disease that emerges in humans every 4 months, 75% of these emerging diseases come from animals, according to UN Environment.
This shows the close relationships between human, animal and environmental health.
Visible, positive impact– whether through improved air quality or reduced greenhouse gas emissions – are but temporary, because they come on the back of tragic economic slowdown and human distress.
Let’s remind more than ever in this International Mother Earth Day that we need a shift to a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet. Let’s promote harmony with nature and the Earth.
EARTH DAY 2020 THEME: CLIMATE ACTION
Every year the Earth Day Network, as organizers of the original Earth Day, selects an environmental priority to engage the global public.
The enormous challenges – but also the vast opportunities – of acting on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary year. At the end of 2020, nations will be expected to increase their national commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, so the time is now for citizens to call for greater global ambition to tackle our climate crisis.
Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable. Unless every country in the world steps up – and steps up with urgency and ambition – we are consigning current and future generations to a dangerous future.
Earth Day 2020 will be far more than a day. It must be a historic moment when citizens of the world rise up in a united call for the creativity, innovation, ambition, and bravery that we need to meet our climate crisis and seize the enormous opportunities of a zero-carbon future.
25 DIFFERENT WAYS TO CELEBRATE EARTH DAY
Earth Day is more than just a single day — April 22. It’s bigger than attending a rally and taking a stand. Here are 25 different ways you can celebrate Earth day.
1. If you are in a situation where you can actually walk, ride your bike, or carpool in order to get from place to place, then it may be time for you to consider that. The fewer cars on the road, the better off that we will be when it comes to our atmosphere.
2. You can volunteer your time to organizations (local or national) that put effort into making the world a better place and helping the environment. There are a lot of great things that you can do, and on Earth Day, there are usually local activities as well.
3. Did you know that switching all of your bills to e-bills and online invoices can save millions of trees every single year? It’s true! If you are in a position where you can do that without making everything more confusing and stressful, then you definitely want to look at the different things that you can do in the long run.
4. Education is the key to everything that you do for the environment. If you know more about what you can do to protect the environment, then you will be able to use that knowledge and share it with others who may be interested in it as well. And that, in the long run, can make a big difference.
5. Do you want to encourage others to get in on the celebration? Then consider putting together what is known as a pledge board at work, school, or your place of worship. You can leave post it notes there so that people can write down the activities that they pledge to do for the environment throughout the next year or so.
6. Do you have a recycling plan in place? If you already do, start looking into what you have in order to expand what you’re recycling. If you do not, then you want to take a look and see what you can recycle in your local area and if you can work to make a difference in that way.
7. Do your faucets leak? If so, did you know that this wastes a lot of water on a yearly basis? If you haven’t done so yet, then you may want to look into how you can go ahead and get started with it during the next year.
8. Plant a tree. Trees are a big part of our earth, and planting one will just add to the health and wellness of the world that we live in.
9. Join a group that is focused on taking care of the environment and see how you can help. It can get your family involved and excited about everything that is available.
10. Go to a local event. A lot of communities will have an “Earth Day fair” or something similar that your family can enjoy together and learn from.
11. Stop drinking bottled water! There are plenty of alternatives out there and, if you stop drinking bottled water, you can save a lot of plastic that would, otherwise, be filling up landfills and dumps.
12. Consider making your yard an oasis for birds and other creatures. You can put in a bird feeder, install birdhouses, put in a bird bath, and more. By making it comfortable for them, they will be more likely to stick around.
13. Help kids learn about the environment by installing a play garden. These can help children to start to fall in love with nature while also being a lot of fun and helping them to get their hands a little bit dirty at the same time.
14. Consider putting together your own garden in your yard. This can save you money, help enrich the area, and it can make it so that you can get more out of what you’re doing on a regular basis.
15. Are you concerned about legislation at the state or national level when it comes to the environment? Then now may be the time for you to write an email or letter to your representative, senator, or whatever official that you may be looking to talk to about environment.
16. Have you updated your light bulbs yet? There are a lot of different options out there that you can choose from, and most of them are much more environmentally friendly than what we grew up with. Changing them can save you a lot of time, money, and energy.
17. Put together an activity for your community if there isn’t one going on. Organize an event, do a community clean up, or put together a fair if there isn’t one already there.
18. Consider adopting a highway. Our roads get a lot of litter and junk on them on a regular basis, and there are highways all over the country that do not have what they need when it comes to people that can clean them. Go with your work or group of friends to take care of things.
19. Take some time to work with your local school. Local schools need all of the help that they can get when it comes to figuring out the best way to get kids more interested in the environment and its care.
20. Take initiative to make sure that your workplace is more environmentally friendly. See what you can do in order to make it just a little bit easier on everyone when it comes to getting involved with caring for the environment. Do research on recycling and get everything in order so you can all do your part.
21. Go and enjoy nature in a special way. Go on a hike. Go to the park. Do something that gets you in touch with nature and that helps to remind you exactly why you’re going to want to go ahead and put so much time, effort, and energy into what you have to offer here.
22. Put together a list of goals for the following year. What do you want to do throughout the year? What steps are you going to take in order to make sure that you can get everything that you need without a lot of hassle? Focus on those things above everything else.
23. Consider finding a way to help an environmental organization financially. If you have additional finances, there are all sorts of organizations out there who will need a little bit of help with money. Most are nonprofit organizations, so look into the ones that work on the things that you are most concerned about or most interested in and consider donating to them.
24. “Adopt” a creature at a wildlife preserve. There are a lot of them out there that need sponsoring, so consider finding a rescue that takes care of your favorite animals, then see how you can adopt and help pay for the care and such that one of these beautiful animals needs.
25. Don’t just leave it to Earth day! If we can do a myriad of things when we are celebrating Earth Day, imagine just how much more that we could do if we took care of the environment every other day during the year. So, why not look into what can be done through the whole year and make taking care of the environment a regular part of how you live.
There could be number of other ways to celebrate Earth day. These are just 25 ways by which you can celebrate Earth day and make a small contribution to the global campaign.
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