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Happy Birthday, Earth Day! What on Earth honors Earth Day’s 42nd anniversary on April 22nd with a collection of Earth Day fun facts.
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Earth Day founded by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin. A massive 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara’s coast moved Nelson, who visited the region shortly afterwards. Following the template of the student anti-war movement, he sought to raise public consciousness about environmental pollution.
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Along with the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Earth Day was an important catalyst for the environmental movement.
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Despite being conceived in the pre-viral era before the Internet, 20 million Americans across the country took part in the first Earth Day.
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Earth Day Network (EDN) was founded by, among others, some organizers of 1970′s Earth Day. EDN works with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries to “broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement.”
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More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world.
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While most folks observe Earth Day on April 22, the United Nations celebrates each year on the March equinox.
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The US government’s official position: “Earth Day is a time to celebrate gains we have made and create new visions to accelerate environmental progress. Earth Day is a time to unite around new actions. Earth Day and every day is a time to act to protect our planet.”
Links of interest:
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See more WOE and become a FAN on Huffington Post
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LIKE WOE on Facebook — get updates, climate change fun facts, download WOE avatars & desktop wallpapers and more!
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Interview: Katie Kline, Communications Officer at Ecological Society of America interviewed me via Skype for the ESA’s Ecotone blog. Read and hear it here.
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Video: Bebbo and Kito were featured in one of Jim Parks’ terrific Today’s Green Minute episodes. See the video! Learn more about it.
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