Taking off Travel blog

Earth Day 2012 is on Sunday 22 April. More than any other time of the year, it’s a time to go green. Here are 22 interesting and fun facts about Earth Day.

The Earth from space

1. Earth Day is the world’s largest civic observance, with more than 1 billion participants worldwide.
2. The first Earth Day was held on 22 April, 1970. The day was founded by US Senator Gaylord Nelson, inspired by anti-war protests and appalled at a major oil spill in Santa Barbara, California in 1969.
3. The date was chosen to avoid conflict with other holidays. However, Arbor Day falls on April 22 in Nebraska.
4. Another reason for the choice is that the date is the official first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and fall in the Southern Hemisphere.
5. More than 20 million Americans took part in the first Earth Day.
6. The movement brought together a range of groups who had been fighting separate battles on different environmental issues.
7. One of the names considered for Earth Day was the National Environmental Teach-In (you can see why they went with Earth Day!)
8. The first Earth Day in Canada was held in September 1980. It now takes place on April 22.
9. Earth Day went global in 199o, putting environmental issues in the spotlight in 141 countries.
10. 200 million people took part in Earth Day 1990.
11. The 1990 Earth Day led to the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
12. President Clinton awarded Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 for founding Earth Day.
13. Earth Day 2000 focused on global warming and clean energy. It used ancient (talking drums) and modern technology (the Internet) to reach global citizens.
14. 5,000 environmental groups in 184 countries took part in Earth Day 2000; the global audience was estimated in the hundreds of millions.
15. The Earth Day Network works with 22,000 partners in 192 countries.
16. In 2011, the Earth Day Network launched A Billion Acts of Green, with the goal of measuring 1 billion eco-friendly actions before the Rio Earth Summit this year. At the time of writing, 40 million actions had been registered.
17. The Environmental Protection Agency is running several initiatives for Earth Day 2012, including urging participants to pick 5 eco-friendly actions to commit to, and a photo project.
18. April 22 is also International Mother Earth Day, an observance established by the United Nations in 2009.
19. At the United Nations Earth Day celebrations include ringing the Peace Bell. The bell is made from coins donated by school children to promote world peace.
20. The world’s first national park was Yellowstone, established in 1872.
21. St. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of ecology.
22. Paper is the item most discarded; Americans use about 600 pounds of paper per year per person.

Want more green resources? Check out some of our previous posts on environmental issues:

• 14 Totally Green Travel Tips & EcoTourism Resources
• So You Wanna Have A Green Vacation?
• A Greener Airport
• Low Green Grades For Airlines

From now until June 20, 2012, pre-book 3 days or more of airport parking and you’ll save an additional 15%. (See full T&Cs) Simply book online using the coupon code SAVEONGAS.

Image: NASA Goddard Photo and Video

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This entry was posted on Friday, April 20th, 2012 at 7:30 am and is filed under Travel Fun, US holidays and observances. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.