People have always celebrated the return of spring—now, to sustain Earth, we need to add action for the environment to our celebrations.
Earth Day, April 22, is an international celebration and day of environmental awareness. Today, leave your car in the yard and take public transit, switch to environmentally friendly products, plant a tree, design a garden for birds, resolve to recycle more, install a water-saving shower head, go on a picnic, or do whatever nurtures the environment and our planet Earth. Around the globe, 500 million people will be thinking and doing the same things.
Earth Day in its present incarnation began in 1970, the brainchild of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson. Nelson was concerned that the environment was not a significant issue in U. S. politics and created Earth Day to change that. It was a success with Americans from the beginning and has grown to international proportions. Today, with our growing environmental concerns, Earth Day is bigger than ever.
Of course, April 22, 1970 was not the first time anyone celebrated Earth and the abundance of a healthy ecosystem. From prehistoric times, people have acknowledged that Earth sustains all life. Typically, the special day has been the vernal equinox, or spring solstice, the day in March when the hours of daylight equal the hours of darkness and spring returns to the Northern hemisphere.
Whichever day you celebrate Earth, think about what you can do, not just that day but every day, to help the environment and sustain the planet.
Earth Day activities for birdwatchers:
