Earth day facts

On 22nd April each year, celebrations are held in more than 192 countries to pay respect to Mother Earth.

This day is famously known as Earth Day.

It is the day when every citizen makes a promise to do something to protect the Earth; like planting a tree or recycling older things.

On this day every men, women and children plants trees, collect garbage, cleans up the streets or signs several petitions to have a better future for our planet.

Some of the interesting – earth day facts are :

1. Origin of Earth Day:

The origin of Earth Day can be traced back to the 1960’s. While visiting an oil spill, Senator Nelson thought of an idea to raise concerns about the environment among all the citizens.

He was extremely passionate about protecting the environment. He choose to dedicate an entire day for this movement. He selected 22nd April as the Earth Day, after considering the academic schedule of the college students, and also because no other religious holidays falls on this day.

The first Earth Day was celebrated on 1970, with almost 20 million people taking part in the celebrations.

2. Political Impact of Earth Day:

Right now, on every Earth Day, millions of trees are planted or other small scale activities are done to conserve the environment.

But originally, this day was meant for bigger, long term projects.

On this day, some major activities regarding environment took place, like the introduction of the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and other important acts.

3. Global Movement:

Although the First Earth Day was on 22nd April, 1970. But the movement became global in the year 1990.

Millions of people all over the world took part in the celebrations that year, protesting against the alarming rise of industries. This year is known in history as the real beginning of the Earth Day movement.

4. Conflict with the Soviet Union:

Nelson very carefully chose the date of 22nd April, making sure that it is not clashing with other major religious days.

But this date is very important in the calendar of the Soviet Union, because it was the birthday of the famous Vladimir Lenin. However, there were no serious problems regarding this, and 22nd April continued to be known as the Earth Day.

5. Disneynature:

On 2008, just one day before the Earth Day, Disney created a new company called ” Disneynature” to create awareness among the people about environmental issues.

So far, it has released around 8 movies, showing the major environmental issues concerning Earth, and what should be done to prevent them.