More than a billion people around the world celebrate Earth Day on April 22 each year!
Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles. 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.
However, the stage was set for change with the publication of Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller “Silent Spring” in 1962. The book represented a watershed moment, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries as it raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the inextricable links between pollution and public health.
The Idea Behind the First Earth Day
Senator Gaylord Nelson, the 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. They called it – Earth Day.
This idea immediately sparked national media attention and caught on across the country. Earth Day inspired 20 million Americans — at the time, 10% of the total population of the United States — to take to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development which had left a growing legacy of serious human health impacts.
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. These laws have protected millions of men, women and children from disease and death, and have protected hundreds of species from extinction.
Earth Day Today
Earth Day now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. This is a day of action to change human behaviour and create global, national and local policy changes.
Now, the fight for a clean environment continues with increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more and more apparent every day. Digital and social media are bringing these conversations, protests, strikes and mobilizations to a global audience, uniting a concerned citizenry as never before and catalysing generations to join together to take on the greatest challenge that humankind has faced.
Earth Day 2022 – Invest in Our Planet
The theme for Earth Day 2022 is “Invest in Our Planet” and focuses on accelerating solutions to combat our greatest threat, climate change, and to activate everyone – governments, citizens, and businesses – to do their part. Everyone accounted for, and everyone accountable.
We Invite You to be a Part of Earth Day
Involvement in Earth Day activities is one of the most important components in the fight against climate change. That’s why, as part of CENN ‘s ACT4CLIMATE Online Campaign – ACT4CLIMATE, April will be dedicated to Earth Day. During the month, the public has the opportunity to engage in interesting and environmentally friendly challenges, competitions and informational activities.
Read more about Earth Day here: https://www.earthday.org/