22 Totally Green Facts about Earth Day
- April 20th 2012
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
- Earth Day is the world’s largest civic observance, with more than 1 billion participants worldwide.
- 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.
- The date was chosen to avoid conflict with other holidays. However, Arbor Day falls on April 22 in Nebraska.
- 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.
- More than 20 million Americans took part in the first Earth Day.
- The movement brought together a range of groups who had been fighting separate battles on different environmental issues.
- One of the names considered for Earth Day was the National Environmental Teach-In (you can see why they went with Earth Day!)
- The first Earth Day in Canada was held in September 1980. It now takes place on April 22.
- Earth Day went global in 199o, putting environmental issues in the spotlight in 141 countries. Read more »
Tags: earth day, earth day 2012, environment, travel tun
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