Earth Day – History

Enjoying+the+beautiful+sun+in+the+sky+with+an+amazing+Earth

Kayl

Enjoying the beautiful sun in the sky with an amazing Earth

Earth day is an annual celebration of acknowledging the accomplishments of the environmental movements and achievements of our Earth. This day is used to spread awareness of what we have done to help our planet, but also, what we can do to improve it.

Earth Day this year will take place on Saturday, April 22nd, and sometimes the holiday is even extended into Earth Week, which is a whole seven days of focusing on our world. This holiday was created to spread awareness of environmental dilemmas. 

In the early 1960’s, society finally realized the effects of pollution in our world. According to the History Channel, Rachel Carson’s 1962 bestseller Silent Spring raised the specter of the dangerous effects of 

Happy Earth Day! Enjoying making the Earth better for everyone in life (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

pesticides on the American countryside. Later in the decade, a 1969 fire on Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River shed light on the problem of chemical waste disposal. Dumping oil and chemicals into the rivers, air, and lakes was almost normal and only a small portion of the nation recycled.

Earth Day was created by a U.S. senator, Gaylord Nelson, a democrat in Wisconsin. He was determined to prove to the government that the planet was exposed to risks. He developed the idea for Earth Day from the “teach-ins” about the anti-Vietnam war t5hat were being taught around the country. 

Enjoying the nature of the Earth on the wonderful Earth Day (Aliah Holcomb)

The concept of Earth Day was announced in a conference in 1969 and he wanted to get the whole nation involved. The first Earth Day was very effective towards its cause and in the 1970’s, many laws were passed in environmental legislation (Ex: Clean Air Act, Water Quality Improvement Act, and the Endangered Species Act).  

Celebrating Earth Day varies in many ways; people do small things, like in elementary schools having students make gardens and doing creative things to teach students at a young age what the holiday is, and why it is important. People do things by themselves, like picking up trash in their home/environment, educating themselves on what they can do better, or just simply donating to charities. 

One of the ways WCHS students help the earth is recycle (Maia Dinglasan, freshman)

In our school, we contribute in small ways to keep our Earth clean. According to our principal, Mr. McDermott, “As a school, we urge students to recycle and run a recycling program for paper, plastic, and aluminumWe also work to conserve electricity by shutting down systems such as the AC and lights when not in use.”

He further stated that even though we contribute to the past mentioned subjects, we could work better to persuade people to continue to put recyclable materials in the designated places. Even doing small things like recycling cans will bring a large improvement to the cause of environmental crisis.  

People can perceive Earth Day as different things. Penelope Vivas, freshman, stated, “I think of it as a day we take out of our year to become conscious of what needs to be changed and improved in our world. It could be small or big but it’s the effort that keeps our Earth put together.”

To conclude, Earth Day is the one day a year when society really tries to improve our world. Whether people participate with small gestures like picking up garbage they see on the ground, or larger gestures like participating protests. Our school and our nation continue to spread awareness throughout the world to make our Earth a healthy home.