Earth Day was founded on April 22, 1970 as a
day of education about environmental issues. Earth Day 2020 occurs on
Wednesday, April 22—the holiday's 50th anniversary. The holiday is now a global
celebration that is sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of
events focused on green living. The brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson and
inspired by the protests of the 1960s, Earth Day began as a “national teach-in
on the environment” and was held on April 22 to maximize the number of students
that could be reached on university campuses.
Earth Day kicked off the Environmental
decade with a bang. During the 1970s, a number of important pieces of
environmental legislation were passed, among them the Clean Air Act, the Water
Quality Improvement Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Toxic Substances
Control Act and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act. Another key
development was the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, in
December 1970, which was tasked with protecting human health and safeguarding
the natural environment—air, water, and land.
On the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970,
rallies were held in most American cities, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency. In New York City, Mayor John Lindsay closed off a
portion of Fifth Avenue to traffic for several hours and spoke at a rally in
Union Square.
Did you know?
In 2012,
100,000 people in China celebrated Earth Day by riding their bikes to reduce
CO2 in the environment and save fuel.
April 22, 2020 marks
the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.
Each year, we anticipated celebrating Earth
Day in our community at the annual Earth Day celebration hosted by the
Cucamonga Valley Water District. In light of this year’s COVID-19 pandemic,
this community event was cancelled for obvious safety reasons. We are all
scrambling to find ways to virtually celebrate with community partners. We can
do an online search for virtual celebrations like:
- The NASA FB page
- The California Technical College and University, Pasadena, Calif
- Claremont Colleges
- Griffith Observatory
- Mt. Wilson Observatory
- Local Libraries
Just in time for this year’s
Earth Day anniversary, consider a more unique experience of visual
celebrations.
The Lyrid meteor shower is
set to light up the skies after sunset until Saturday April, 25th. Its peak is
estimated to occur on Tuesday and Wednesday night. During this time, the 2020
installment of the shower is expected to produce between 10 and 20 meteors per
hour.
For
the rest of us, we can participate by celebrating Earth Day at a personal level
by planting a vegetable garden to help cut down on transportation and packaging.
Learn about the importance that Bees have with our food chain. Enjoy the
byproduct of planting a flower garden that compliments your veggie garden: hummingbirds
and butterflies. Slow down and enjoy the sounds of nature that the birds
provide and remind us of what Mother Earth is trying to tell us and that each
of us has a responsibility to treat her with respect.
Earth’s resources are finite, what would happen if we all embraced
Earth Day everyday instead of only one day a year?
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| Friends of the Pacific Electric Trail |
- Victoria Jones Friend of the Pacific Electric Trail
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