Earth Day on April 22 is an annual celebration of the birth of the environmental movement in 1970. It’s not a Latin celebration, but the health of our world affects us all.
The cover photograph was taken from the moon by astronaut William Anders in 1968. Do you see any other place you would like to live?
Earth Day 2022
The next Earth Day is Friday, April 22, 2022.
Earth Day 50
The 50th Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22, 2020. Today our world is suffering from two pandemics at the same time: Coronavirus and Global Heating.
Both pandemics are reminders of how interconnected we are with each other, all living things, and the earth itself.
The first Earth Day celebration was in 1970. If you are old enough, you may remember how bad it was with air that hurt to breathe, massive ocean oil spills, rivers that caught fire from chemical pollution and on and on.
We began working for change then, but also against change. 1970 was the beginning of laws to protect the environment including the Environmental Protection Act.
The decade also led to an Exxon oil company public relations campaign that is one of the primary sources for climate change denial. Exxon scientists foresaw what we are doing to our world. The company’s response was to fund a public relations campaign to sow confusion so they could keep on polluting. Visit any refinery town and see if you would want to live there.
We have the possibility and capability of change. Yet just as inaction against COVID-19 spread the virus, inaction against climate change makes it harder to do anything about it. Frankly, it may already be too late. What do you think Earth Day 100 will look like? What do you want it to look like?
Earth Day
Earth Day started in 1970. It is now celebrated around the world and coordinated by the Earth Day Network at www.earthday.org
Those who would roll back or prevent environmental regulations seem to have forgotten why people began to care about the environment in the first place. Things were bad. Lack of regulation led to outrageous situations like the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio which caught fire many times until a 1969 fire sparked a “Time” magazine story about it.
@EarthDayNetwork
Earth Day 2017
This year there is an Earth Day March for Science Rally and Teach-Ins on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. To participate, head over to Penn Station and take an Amtrak train to Washington D.C.
Here in New York City, there are Earth Day celebrations at the American Museum of Natural History and in Madison Square Park.
Broadway will be closed to cars between Union Square and Times Square from 10am to 6pm. Uptown, St. Nicholas Avenue will be closed from 181st Street to 190th Street. Dominican New York City Councilman championed the closing to show what our city would be like without cars.
There is a March for Science in NYC to show President Trump that we care about the environment. It starts at Central Park West and West 72nd Street around 10:30am. Over 20,000 people are expected to march south on Broadway to West 52nd Street, passing Trump International Hotel and Tower on the way.
Do send us your photos on Facebook.
#EarthDay2017
Earth Day 2016
The United States, China, and about 120 other countries signed the Paris Agreement to protect the climate.
