fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com pexels.com Sebastian-Voortman-photo.
April 23, 2020,
Just the fact that a group of people brilliantly thought we should have a day to appreciate our home, the earth, is a step in the right direction.
As the world’s population continues to surge and the earth’s amount of usable space continues to shrink, the more the human population realizes the need to be more respectful to our natural home, the much better.
Earth Day is a reminder of that.
Without researching it, what does Earth Day mean to you personally?
We know of someone in our circle who purchased a large home with a substantial backyard and decided that, instead laying down a lawn, which looks wonderful but drinks up so much water, she would plant a natural backyard with bark, rocks, ponds and trees.
Once done, it was serene, calm and beautiful.
It looked so natural that frogs would migrate there and lay their eggs. Once a bird did as well.
It did require some maintenance, just as our natural home does. It was sure worth it.
What she loved most was sitting by inside of it at night, listening to the fish feed and splash and feeling the spiritual calm of water.
For her, that is what Earth Day means.
Now for the formal declaration.
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated around the world on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First celebrated in 1970, it now includes events coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network in more than 193 countries.
In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.
This day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.
A month later a United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the National Coordinator. Nelson and Hayes renamed the event “Earth Day.” Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work.
The first Earth Day was focused on the United States. In 1990, Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international and organized events in 141 nations.
On Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, China, and some 120 other countries.
This signing satisfied a key requirement for the entry into force of the historic draft climate protection treaty adopted by consensus of the 195 nations present at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
Numerous communities celebrate Earth Day Week, an entire week of activities focused on the environmental issues that the world faces.
At the organization’s home earthday.org they educate us about their mission, “Our mission? To build the world’s largest environmental movement to drive transformative change for people and planet.
Earth Day Network’s mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 75,000 partners in over 190 countries to drive positive action for our planet.”
Very noble and heroic mission with a peaceful pulse.
They add, “Earth Day 1970 gave a voice to an emerging public consciousness about the state of our planet —
In the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of the consequences from either the law or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Until this point, mainstream America remained largely oblivious to environmental concerns and how a polluted environment threatens human health.
However, the stage was set for change with the publication of Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962. The book represented a watershed moment, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries as it raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the inextricable links between pollution and public health.”
Earth Day over the years has certainly brought more attention to the connection between a healthy and clean earth and a healthy human being.
Notice the unexpected but welcome side effects of the global pandemic. As analyzed by sciencealert.com, “The skies are clearing of pollution, wildlife is returning to newly clear waters, a host of flights have been scrapped and crude oil is so worthless that the industry would have to pay you to take it off their hands – a few months ago, environmentalists could only dream of such a scenario as the 50th anniversary of Earth Day hove into view.”
They add that the waters of Venice are now clear, lions lounge on roads normally frequented by safari-goers in South Africa and bears and coyotes wander around empty accommodation in Yosemite national park in California.
The global news leader CNN International also observes, “Lockdowns restricting travel and industry imposed to halt the spread of coronavirus have resulted in unprecedented reductions in deadly air pollution around the world, new analysis shows.
Major cities that suffer from the world’s worst air pollution have seen reductions of deadly particulate matter by up to 60% from the previous year, during a three-week lockdowns period.”
There is a strong lesson there if only we would learn and apply.
The passion for Earth Day still burns bright.
“I consider the world, this Earth, to be like a school, and our life the classrooms”… Oprah Winfrey
Earth Day 2020 is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.
Celebrations included activities such as the Great Global CleanUp, Citizen Science, Advocacy, Education, and art.
This year’s theme for Earth Day 2020 was “climate action”. Due to the coronavirus outbreak turned pandemic, many of the planned activities were moved online. Celebratory activities centered around five components: citizen science, volunteering, community engagement, education, and the role of art in furthering the cause.
It is a beautiful cause worth fighting for.
As renters, at some point we hope to make our green landlord very proud.
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OPENING PHOTO fciwomenswrestling.com femcompetitor.com, fcielitecompetitor.com pexels.com Sebastian-Voortman-photo.
https://www.earthday.org/history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day
https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/earth-quotes
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/world/air-pollution-reduction-cities-coronavirus-intl-hnk/index.html
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
