Earth Day

Earth Day

"We only have one earth, so we have to take care of her."
- Senator Gaylord Nelson

Earth Day was first held on April 22nd, 1970. It was and still is a nationwide day of environmental education and involvement. Earth Day originated from the United States, founded by an extreme activist and U.S. Senator, Gaylord Nelson, from Wisconsin. Together, Nelson and a Harvard University student, Denis Hayes, held Earth Day to show other politicians that there were many other people in the world that supported being green and problems centered around environmental issues. The first ever Earth Day event was extremely successful, with thousands of colleges, universities, schools and communities all across the United States pitching in. The event inspired the US Congress to establish the Environmental Protection Agency to research and observe environmental issues and apply environmental laws. On March 21st, 1971, the United Nations made Earth Day an international celebration. The United Nations Earth Day ceremony continues each year on the day of the vernal equinox, with the ringing of the UN Peace Bell.

Although the United Nations declared Earth Day as an international celebration in 1971, the first international Earth Day was not celebrated until 1970. Two million Canadians celebrated the first international Earth Day, in 1990, where 200 million people around the world joined them. In Canada, Earth Day has grown into Earth Week and even Earth Month. The events range from large public events, such as Victoria’s Earth Walk and Oakville, Ontario’s Waterways Clean-Up to the thousands of small events set up by schools and community groups. These contributions from Canada, the United States and other nations around the world are the reasons why Earth Day is the largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide.

Another theme of Earth Day is for everyone