Last week on Wednesday 22 April, millions of people around the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of World Earth Day.
This annual event aims to celebrate and raise awareness of the global environmental movement. Established in the United States in 1970, it has grown in popularity worldwide, with the United Nations officially recognising the date as ‘International Mother Earth Day’ in 2009.
But how did the event come about?
Back in 1962, the American marine biologist and author, Rachel Carson, had published her latest book, Silent Spring. In it, she documented the harmful effects of a commonly used pesticide called DDT on the environment and the attempts by the chemical industry to hide this from the public and public officials.
A few years later, in 1969, the largest ever oil spill in US waters occurred in California, causing devastating effects to marine life and killing an estimated 3,500 sea birds.
These events, amongst others, caught the attention and concern of Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, inspiring him to take action and create an environmental movement.
He started by organising college campus “teach-ins” to ignite the passion of young people, choosing 22 April, perfectly placed between spring break and final exams, to encourage participation. Gaining media attention, he broadened nationally, promoting the event via a wide range of organisations, faith groups etc. Thus World Earth Day was born!
Nowadays, World Earth Day is celebrated in over 184 countries, with 1 billion people taking part – Gaylord Nelson, who died in 2005, would have been proud of his work.
Nevertheless, there is a lot of focus on the challenges that we still face, with regards to environmental protection and conservation. This is important, but it is also important to remember just how far we have progressed from the oil spills, polluting factories, toxic landfill, dangerous pesticides, and heedless habitat destruction of the late 20th century.
We therefore thought we would take this opportunity to celebrate 10 positive “wins” for the environment since 1970 (pictured left).
I hope that you have enjoyed learning more about World Earth Day and celebrating some of the environmental progresses that have been made.
If you would like to know more or join one of the many activities offered by the movement, please visit https://www.earthday.org/