Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 every year. The day is also known as International Mother Earth Day. The purpose of the day is to raise awareness about various issues that threaten the environment and endanger the planet, such as the rapidly rising levels of pollution, deforestation, and global warming. Countries and organisations from all around the world unite to promote awareness of the critical need to preserve the environment.
The planet will commemorate the 54th Earth Day on April 22, 2024, at a time when pollution is at never-before-seen levels and temperatures on are breaking records every year. Thousands of people worldwide organise campaigns and make commitments to improve the planet's health. Earth Day is celebrated through various seminars, events and concerts. These modern environmental movements help the world realise the need to nurture the planet for better living.
History of the day
Gaylord Nelson, a US senator and environmentalist, and Harvard University graduate student Denis Hayes organised it for the first time. According to the BBC, Mr Nelson and Mr Hayes planned the event because they were worried about environmental damage in the US, particularly following a significant oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million American citizens took to the streets across the city to protest against environmental crises such as water pollution, oil spills, forest fires, air pollution etc. That street protest created a huge buzz and spread like wildfire as hundreds of cities joined gradually the revolution to make it one of the biggest protests on the globe.
Theme of Earth Day
The theme this year is "Planet vs. Plastics," which aims to increase public awareness of the detrimental effects that plastic pollution has on both human and environmental health.
The theme was selected with the historic UN plastics convention in mind, which is anticipated to be adopted by the end of 2024. The UK is one of the more than 50 nations that have demanded that plastic pollution be ended by 2040.
