When is Earth Day and why is it celebrated?

Each April 22 We celebrate Earth Day around the world, officially International Mother Earth Day, with the aim of reminding the population of the importance of our planet as the common home of all the beings that inhabit it. In the words of the United Nations Organization, this day aims to try to reach a balance between viability and environmental health and social needs and economic benefits of ours and future generations.

But when was it first celebrated and why was that day chosen? The reality is that The first Earth Day was in 1970when the senator for the US Democratic Party and environmental activist Gaylor Nelson promoted a great mobilization to make the environmental movement visible. That year, 20 million people demonstrated demanding respect for the environment, a milestone that contributed to establishing this date, April 22, as International Mother Earth Day.

Furthermore, the success of the demonstration contributed to the American administration creating the Agency for the Protection of the Environment, a state agency whose objectives include the conservation of endangered species, contributing to the purification of water and cleaning the air.

We have already explained that the great demonstration of 1970 was the beginning of the celebration of Earth Day, but why April 22 was chosen. Regarding this, there are some theories, some of which are very bizarre, such as the one that connects that date with the centenary of Lenin’s birth, April 22, 1970. The reality is much more prosaic and is due to purely logistical reasons.

To organize this large demonstration, Nelson contacted numerous schools, institutes and universities. In order to gather the largest group of people possible, he chose April 22 because it was a day in which there were no holidays, exams or any other celebrations that could reduce participation in the march.

From here, thanks to the great success of the demonstration, not only was the Agency for Environmental Protection created, but just Two years later the first Earth Summit was held in the city of Stockholm, a summit that laid the foundations of the environmental movement at the political level. Such was the importance of that anniversary that from that year on, April 22 has been coined as International Mother Earth Day.

That first demonstration brought together 20 million people throughout the United States, today, in this celebration Up to a billion people participate in more than a hundred countries around the world. Inevitably World Earth Day has evolved, perhaps it does not have as much media impact as the first years had, but it is still just as – or more – necessary and represents an important turning point for all those who fight for the ecological viability of our planet.

In all these years, concern for the environment has gone from being something very marginal to being accepted by the majority of society. Despite this, we are getting worse at an environmental level. Today, the problems are no longer just the ozone layer, environmental pollution and the lack of drinking water, environmental threats are currently skyrocketing.

That is why different organizations and associations fight so that Earth Day is not just one day a yearbut rather that it becomes long-term actions, with clear objectives that are fought for daily. An example of this is the multitude of actions carried out in thousands of schools around the world, which on the one hand have an immediate impact on the environment and, on the other, ecological awareness for future generations.

In turn, the celebration of World Earth Day serves for the ecological community to meet and evaluate the environmental policies carried out by the governments of different countries.

Now that you know everything that is hidden behind Earth Day, below we will give you some ideas and explain what to do on Earth Day to contribute your grain of sand to this movement:

• plant a tree: It is surely one of the most typical actions, but don’t limit yourself to planting it, you must take care of it and maintain it throughout the year.
• Garbage collection: Get together with friends, family and acquaintances and organize a garbage collection in a park, beach or mountain near your house.
• use the bicycle: Or you walk to work, whatever it may be, that day and whenever possible avoid using the car.
• Awareness for the little ones: Take advantage of this day to talk to them about the importance of preserving our planet. Explain concepts such as climate change.

In addition, from Evidence Network we propose some ecological activities for children.

Below we leave you some of the best phrases for Earth Day:

• We insult the Earth, in return, it gives us flowers.
• In a million years the Earth will recover but we will disappear.
• The Earth gives us enough to live on, but not enough for our ambition.
• Nature speaks, we do not listen to it.
• In every single drop there is a hope of life.

Now that you know when Earth Day is and why it is celebrated, we recommend you read this article about Earth Overshoot Day.

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