Earth Day. Image: wikimedia commons.

It’s Earth Day – the largest secular observance in the world. Inaugurated as a national “teach-in” on the environment, the 1970’s movement launched the United States Environmental Protection Agency; Clean Air, Clean Water Act; and Endangered Species Act. Why is Earth Day celebrated on April 22? Founder Senator Gaylord Nelson, with CongressPerson Pete McCloskey and Professor Denis Hayes who picked the April date as “falling between Spring Break and Final Exams,” drew 20 million people on the first Earth Day in 1970; the first Global Earth Day in 1990 engaged 200 million participants. The year 2020 will mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day: that’s just over 100 weeks away – what will you do to participate? Meanwhile, each Earth Day has a theme: this year: End Plastic Pollution.  It’s timely: 80% of tap water contains plastic. There are solutions: 90% of ocean plastic comes from just 10 rivers; banning plastic straws can help. Sign the pledge to end plastic pollution here.

“End Plastic Pollution: Earth Day 2018 Campaign.” Earth Day NetWork. https://www.earthday.org/campaigns/plastics-campaign/

“It’s Earth Day: Look Up!” 22 April 2017. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2017/04/22/its-earth-day-look-up.

“(Re)New Earth Day.” 22 April 2016. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2016/04/22/renew-earth-day/

“Year of the Tree.” 27 April 2016. http://blogs.umb.edu/buildingheworld/2016/04/27/year-of-the-tree/

“Earth Day: Social Power.” 22 April 2015. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2015/04/22/earth-day-social-power/

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License