Earth Day

Earth Day is a very important event that all of us should participate in. It’s one of the few times people actually think of Earth on a global scale. With all the horrible things we are doing to our planet, this is the least we can do.

Earth Day is celebrated in the US on April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. More than 6 million Canadians join 500 million people in over 180 countries in staging events and projects to address local environmental issues. Nearly every school in Canada takes part in an Earth Day activity. Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson and Harvard University student Dennis Hayes celebrated the first Earth Day in 1970 and now Canada has several year round programs for Canadians of all ages.

The idea of Earth day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962. In November 1962 the idea was to persuade President Kennedy to address this issue of the environment by going on a national conservation tour, which occurred in September 1963. The tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. In the spring of 1970 (the first Earth day) there was a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment. The media carried the story from coast to coast and the idea of Earth Day was finally acknowledged.

The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes and air. This idea sort of died out during the '80's and '90's but with all the talk of global warming it's becoming a more mainstream event/celebration. Companies have even gotten into Earth Day. Last year, office supply store Staples introduced office paper made entirely without new trees. As part of the celebration, some communities make Earth Day a "Car-Free Day."

Did You Know…?

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to watch a TV for three hours - it's equivalent to half a gallon of gasoline.

Never underestimate the importance of recycling: if every newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year. Unfortunately only 27% of all American newspapers are recycled.

The first major international conference on environmental issues was held in Sweden in 1972 and was sponsored by the United Nations.

More than 20,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of tinfoil. All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.

Only 11% of the earth's surface is used to grow food.

Peace Bell that was given to the UN by Japan. It is made from coins given by school children to further peace on our planet.

Issues on the environment are still not being addressed to enough. We live on this planet, so why should we care about it for only one day? We should treat every day like Earth Day. Students around the world should be taught more about how important it is to not pollute and to do things that will help are dying planet. Earth Day is important, but it’s only a start.