In celebration of Earth Day occurring this Wednesday, (April 22nd) I’m going into the history of the day and what you can do to celebrate while we are all staying at home. The first Earth Day happened 50 years ago in 1970 after 20 million Americans took to the streets to demand a change to how we treat our planet. The idea came from Senator Nelson, who had seen the effects of air and water pollution and wanted to increase public awareness about the problem. Denis Hayes, an activist Nelson recruited to help out, started with a national staff of 85 to promote events and that number quickly grew to include more organizations and groups until Earth Day became global in 1990.
As a result groups that were originally fighting their causes on their own united to fight for one large cause- our planet. New laws were created as a response (such as the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act) to the growing public awareness.
So how can you celebrate? The answer is easy: just get outside! Getting out in nature is the best way to appreciate everything the Earth has given us. If you can’t get outside, open up a winder and get some fresh air or try to learn a new fact about our planet. Trust me when I say there is a lot of interesting information to learn.
References
“Earth Day 2020.” Earth Day, www.earthday.org/earth-day-2020/.
“The History of Earth Day.” Earth Day, 2020, www.earthday.org/history/.