Earth Day was first suggested by John McDonnell (from the United States) in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference on the Environment. The United Nations began an Earth Day celebration on the March Equinox and continued this celebration every year since.
Responding to global warming and other environmental degradation, Gaylord Nelson (a Wisconsin Senator) called for an environmental teach-in to be held on April 22, 1970. This Earth Day involved over 2000 colleges and universities and roughly 10,000 primary and secondary schools. The main purpose of the day was to promote environment awareness and reform.
Earth Day is still celebrated on 2 days - the March Equinox and April 22nd. The April date usually involves more schools. In fact, Earth Week has evolved from this precious day allowing students, teachers and parents to have more time to learn about environmental awareness.
Earth day is intended for all of us to recognize how we influence our limited resources from our planet. There are often activities, campaigns and events scheduled on this day to promote awareness of Earth issues. You may choose to participate in a local event or start your own! Some ideas that you could put in motion are:
- Pick up trash on the playground
- Help Mom and Dad with recycling garbage at home
- Plant a tree
Having a blast with the A to Z challenge!
