Earth Day History and Importance
Earth Day has been celebrated globally for over 40 years. Universally, Earth Day is celebrated to promote awareness and education surrounding our environment and ecological issues. The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970 to increase awareness of environmental issues. On that day, over 30 million people attended festivals nationwide. The date reserved for Earth Day is April 22nd each year. The founder of Earth Day was Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, whom President Bill Clinton awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995. This is the highest honor given to civilians in the United States.
As time passed, Earth Day continued to grow. When Earth Day went global in 1990, 200 million people in 141 countries participated in the events, according to the Earth Day Network. In 2010, for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, 225,000 people gathered to launch a campaign to plant 1 billion trees, which was later achieved in 2012. Earth Day continues to expand each year, with the potential of education, awareness, and promotion of environmental and ecological issues around the world.
“Thinking about the history of environmental activism and the way individuals have worked together to change policy can make us more optimistic about the ability to make positive changes in the future,” Susan Clayton, Professor of psychology and environmental studies at The College of Wooster in Ohio.
https://www.livescience.com/50556-earth-day-facts-history.html
What is WA Green Team? What did they do for Earth Month?
As members of the Worcester Academy community, the WA Green Team feels that it is our obligation to share environmental knowledge and promote awareness of our changing environment to those who will listen. Our school-wide Earth Day celebration on April 10th, was educational, informational, and discussion based. It involved workshops on topics varying from Consumerism, to Sustainable Gardening, Environmental Aspects in Politics, Carbon Footprints, and Deforestation. We also held a “fair” on the quad that was both educational and engaging. We have had art stations, outdoor activities, and recycling trivia.
Additionally, throughout the month we hosted events that engaged the community and worked to build awareness around environmental dilemmas. We created a short film of student responses, invited a WA alumni to speak to students, and worked with the Environmental Science classes to revive the raised beds on the quad. Lastly, we hung our Earth Day banner on campus, as well as created a Slam Wall of student responses to display in the library.
Throughout the year Green Team has been working to make WA more environmentally friendly. We have been working to reduce paper towel waste by putting recycled signs up in the bathrooms with methods of how to using paper towels more effectively. We have done research on the amount of meat served and not eaten in the dining hall and have worked to reduce this number. We have advocated for composting and reducing Palm Oil Consumption on campus.
As a club, we hope to increase environmental awareness, promote interest in ecological issues, and provide educational value in our events that ultimately make the WA campus informed and energized to make change in relation to the environmental movement.