Happy Earth Day! Since it's a special day, I wanted to take a break from our current topic to discuss a little bit about humanity's most well-known environmental holiday. It's a day where people come together, a day where we work with each other, a day where we craft change that will help the environment for years to come. But above all, it's a day meant to make us realize just how lucky we are to live on this Earth, and recognize our responsibility to protect it. But how exactly did this day come about, and what to can we do to celebrate it? Well, that's what I wanted to talk about in this post, starting with the history of Earth Day
History
The first Earth Day was celebrated all the way back on April 22nd, 1970, and started with a man named Gaylord Nelson. A senator from Wisconsin, Nelson noticed the dire state of the environment, both in industry and the public eye, and wanted to do something about it. At the same time, war was raging within the country of Vietnam, and many students around the United States were heavily opposing it. So, after witnessing the 1969 oil spill in California, Nelson decided he could channel the energy amassed from the anti-war protests into something that would benefit the environment too.
So, he suggested a teach-in on the environment to our national media, and found a group of individuals willing to promote the event. Through the media and word-of-mouth, the idea for an Earth Day celebration spread throughout the country, culminating in a day of massive national support. On April 22nd, 1970, about 20 million Americans around the country protested, demonstrated, and showed their support for the environment in any way they could. They worked together to amass thousands of people in an overwhelming show of support for our Earth, and their work culminated in something truly beautiful. This success led to the eventual creation of the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Endangered Species Acts, which are all incredibly influential in our world today.
If you would like a more detailed history of Earth day, as well as some more information on how it has changed throughout the years, click here.
Earth Day Today
So, the first Earth Day was undoubtedly an overwhelming success, and one that was desperately needed. And, after hearing this, your next logical thought might be, "That was in the past! What can we do now?" and if it is, I commend you. Because, as we all know, there is still a ton of work do be done to protect our environment, and what better time to do it then on the day that was created specifically for that purpose? Obviously, there are a TON of different options for helping the Earth, much too many for one post. So, I'm going to focus on a few websites/organizations that specifically revolve around Earth day, starting with the original Earth Day Organization itself.
Earthday.org
Earthday.org is the main place to go for all things Earth Day. From a comprehensive history of the day, to multi-faceted programs and events about what we can do to help, this organization has been incredibly influential in Earth Day celebration. By visiting their website (through the link above) you can find a multitude of different ways you can help, including but not limited to: pledging to and finding information about limiting plastic usage, planting a tree (or donating to plant one), reducing your carbon footprint, eating less meat, and much more. All of these actions are extremely beneficial, so even if you can only do just one of the many that they offer, it would still help quite a lot.
Earthdayinitiative.org
Earthdayinitiative.org, like earthday.org, is an organization (with a great website) that revolves around specific events organized for Earth Day. The difference is that this organization works mainly within the New York area, but still has some events outside of it. What I would specifically like to focus on, however, is their #dojust1thing movement, aimed at allowing people to easily switch to renewable energies. By clicking here, you can take just two minutes to sign up for a program called Arcadia Power, which allows renters and homeowners to get their energy from renewable sources. It's fast, it's free, it's easy, and it's something that I'm hoping to do this Earth Day, and that I would highly recommend to anyone else.
Find an Event or Donate
This suggestion is a bit more abstract, and requires a little research depending on where exactly you live. There are tons of pre-planned events around the world that will be taking place today, all of which would be happy to get some help from people in the area. Most of them will allow sign ups on the actual day of the event too (as long as they haven't already started) so there are still opportunities to sign up if you haven't already. These include protests, teach-ins, physical work, and more. While you can find events in the websites I have talked about previously, you can click here for a fairly large list about more that you can take part in.
What I'm Doing
I feel it would be a bit hypocritical of myself to share all these ways one can help during Earth Day without detailing what I myself will be doing. And this year, I'm going to be focusing on reducing myself and my family's impact on the environment, through calculating and reducing plastic purchasing, signing up for environmentally friendly energy, organizing my garden and compost piles for the upcoming year, and spreading the word of Earth Day to all of you guys. I was in Philadelphia on a service trip to work with the poor over the past week, and have not had time to organize or sign up for an event quite yet, but I may yet do so. I will definitely, however, be participating in the Great Massachusetts Cleanup next week, and working with my school on that. This year I'm focusing more on my own impact, and I certainly expect to improve as a result.
Conclusion
So, what will you do? It's a question we all have to consider today, and it's not one that can be easily answered. Will you focus on your own impact like me, or get out in the community and focus on others too? Will you limit your plastic consumption, go vegetarian, plant a tree, or do all three? While I know it can be difficult to push ourselves to participate, I highly encourage all of you reading this to at least do something. Plant a tree, focus on recycling, meet up with some friends to clean a park. No matter how small the action is, you still help. And, in the face of such daunting problems, that fact remains important to remember. Because if we ignore this Earth Day, neglect to help, and turn our backs on these problems, then it truly would have been a waste. But if we take the time and effort to stand up, and JUST DO SOMETHING, then we are one step closer to solving these problems once and for all. Happy Earth Day everyone.
All credit for information used in this post goes to:
https://www.earthday.org/take-action/
http://www.earthdayinitiative.org/dojust1thing
https://www.arcadiapower.com/earthdayinitiative
https://www.earthday.org/2018/04/20/earth-day-2018-events-popping-up-worldwide/
Images:
https://www.earthday.org/2013/02/22/earth-day-2013-the-face-of-climate-change/
http://www.speakeasy-news.com/ecology-on-the-web/
http://germaneconsulting.com/earthday-founder-senator-gaylord-nelson/
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/EPA_Ozone?t=5&akid=13458.2525263.eKLkEP
https://www.arborday.org/trees/index-planting.cfm
http://www.earthdayinitiative.org/
https://sustainabledanville.wordpress.com/tag/town-of-danville-earth-day-art-contest/
https://hackaday.com/2017/08/24/ask-hackaday-saving-the-world-with-wacky-waving-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-men/#comment-3932589
https://www.erepublik.com/en/article/vote-sfp-let-s-do-something--2610712/1/20
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