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What Is "Earth Day"?

Invest In Our Planet

By Ruth Elizabeth StiffPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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Scrolling on Facebook yesterday, I saw a number of posts saying “Happy Earth Day”. Always ready to learn about our planet Earth, I did a little research and was pleasantly surprised.

The date April 22nd was chosen because it was a weekday falling between Spring break and Final Exams, in order to maximise the greatest student participation. Yes, it started in America but “today” over one billion people join in from 193 countries. Earth Day is “the” modern environmental movement which started in 1970.

Before then, we humans were oblivious to how our way of living was damaging our environment. Air pollution was just accepted as ‘the smell of prosperity’. Wanting to use the energy of anti-war (American) protests with an emerging awareness about air and water pollution. Thus, “Earth Day” was invented. I have to question myself, if this is the first time I’ve heard of this, “where on earth have I been for the last 50 years?” (I’m nearly 55!)

All those individuals who were personally ‘fighting’ against oil spills, polluting factories, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, the loss of wilderness and the extinction of wildlife, all joined together for “Earth Day” and became a force to be reckoned with.

In 1990, Earth Day went global, with 200 million people from 141 countries joining in, and in this way environmental issues were set up onto the world stage, paving the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit (in Rio de Janeiro).

Earth Day in 2000 focused on global warming and pushed for clean energy. 5,000 environmental groups from 184 countries reached out to hundreds of millions of people, and now the internet came into play. “Citizens around the world wanted quick and decisive action on global warming and clean energy”.

“Earth Day” today engages more than one billion people and it has become a major step in protecting our planet. It is the largest secular observance marked every year, for one day, as a day of action to help encourage the change in human behaviour and it helps to create global, national and local policy changes.

The generation of young people today settle only for the best, and are using the platforms of social media to show the urgency of helping the Earth — TODAY!

For this year, 2022, the theme for Earth Day is “Invest In Our Planet”. The statement is: “For Earth Day, 2022, we need to act, innovate and implement. It’s going to take all of us. All in. Businesses, governments and citizens — everyone accountable for, and everyone accountable. A partnership for the planet”.

The official website is fascinating, as it gives ideas and ‘ways’ in which all of us, individually and as a group, can “do our bit”. Clean-ups, sustainable fashion and different types of projects are all mentioned. The different programs are: climate and environmental literacy / act on climate change / conservation and restoration / food and environment / end to plastic pollution. There is great emphasis on educating, not just the young but also the old, and we’ve all seen the ‘clean-ups’ on the beaches (on the local news).

“Governments can pass regulations, they can promote (a) green economy. We need to invest in innovators and innovation, but we need to do it the right way. For individuals it’s about investing your personal time, your political vote, investing in your community, investing your money into going green”. (Kathleen Rogers)

If you enjoyed this article, go on over to my website for more similar articles: https://sarah-s-story-book.webnode.co.uk/

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About the Creator

Ruth Elizabeth Stiff

I love all things Earthy and Self-Help

History is one of my favourite subjects and I love to write short fiction

Research is so interesting for me too

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