Happy Earth Day to you all!
Today is a great day to celebrate and appreciate the world that we live in by finding your own special way to honor the earth. Some people will gather a group and pick up trash along the roadways (a very needed thing), others will venture into a natural space to study the specimens within and document what they find, and some may strap on their packs and head into the wild to breathe in all that it offers us has human beings. Whatever you decide to do, it doesn't matter...just get out there and find what's best for you!
A Little History
Earth Day was founded in a collective effort headed by Gaylord Nelson, then US Senator from Wisconsin (woohoo, go WI!), after the massive oil spill of 1969 in Santa Barbara, CA. Inspired by the student anti-war movement , Nelson decided to infuse a similar energy into rallying the public behind air and water pollution, hoping to force environmental portection onto the national political agenda. After persuading Pete McCloskey, a Republican Congressman, to be his co-chair and recruiting Denis Hayes as a national coordinator, they announced a plan for a "national teach-in on the environment" to the national media. Hayes built a large national staff of 85 individuals to promote events across the country.
As a result of this coordinated effort, on April 22nd 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive cross-country rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. All those groups that had been fighting against pollution, oil spills, power plants, raw sewage, pesticidies, freeways, loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife realized that they shared common goals.
This first Earth Day led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.
Source: Earth Day Network