International Mother Earth Day-22 April

Every year on April 22nd, we celebrate Earth Day globally. On this day, various events are organized in support of earth and its environmental protection. The first earth day was celebrated in 1970 and since then more than 192 countries have associated with the cause and celebrate this day every year.

HISTORY OF EARTH DAY

Earth Day began on 22 April 1970 after oil spills took place in Santa Bar, California and created a lot of pollution in the nearby area. The then U.S Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson got inspired by this and thought to start a campaign by using energy of youth in creating awareness about air and water pollution among masses. He got an idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” and announced it to the national media. He recruited Denis Hayes as the national coordinator for the cause who helped in building a national staff of around 85 people to promote the events in different places.

As a result of their attempts, around 20 million Americans gathered on the streets, parks and other public areas on 22nd April 1970 in rallies in support of environment cause. More and more people of different categories: rich and poor, working and employed, politicians, businessmen, kid and old – all were equally participating.

When was Earth Day celebrated first time?

The first Earth Day resulted in the creation of an agency which was named “United States Environmental Protection Agency”. In 1990, Denis organised a much bigger campaign in which around 20 million people round the world and 141 countries participated. They all raised issues and concerns on the various human activities that are slowly degrading the quality of air, water and impacting the environment and different methods that can be used to reduce the negative effects of this.

Senator Nelson was awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in 1995 from then President Bill Clinton for his role as Earth Day Founder. The award is the highest honor award given to civilians in the US.

How can we protect our mother earth?

• Turn off the lights when not needed. Even if you are going out of your room or kitchen for few minutes switch off the fan and lights as this could also save a lot of power. 
• Unplug your phone, charger, television, grinder and other appliances if not in use as many times they consume electricity if not unplugged.
• Prefer car pooling instead of driving office alone in your car, as this saves fuel and reduces pollution level. You will be happy seeing extra pennies in your pocket using this practice. If possible then walk a little if office is at walking distance as this can return you health benefits in return.
• Avoid wastage of water by not running tap if not require water. You can water plants in the evening as in morning they get evaporated during summer. Also do not flush toilets every time if not needed. In summers, many people waste water in planting, filling coolers-they do not even check if the cooler has got filled or not and the water flows out of it and wastes.
• Use paper bags or disposable bags instead of going for plastic ones as later are not biodegradable and  cause environmental pollution.
• Use LED lights that can cost you less and also they consume less electricity, if possible you can use solar devices also that work on sunlight which is available in abundance in nature free of cost.

We should always remember that we have not inherited Earth from our ancestors , we have borrowed it from our children and should return it to them in proper condition without spoiling it any more.