Earth911 honors 52 years of Earth Day with 52 Earth Actions. Each week leading up to Earth Day 2023, we’ll share one action you can take to invest in the Earth and make your own life more sustainable. As we approach the end of this year-long exercise, it’s time to start looking forward to the next Earth Day. This week you can make your plans for Earth Day 2023.
Action: Plan Earth Day
earth day
Earth Day began on April 22, 1970. On that day, 10% of the American population took to the streets to protest against environmental degradation. This protest launched the modern environmental movement. In less than a year, the United States created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later, Congress passed the Clean Water Act and a year later the Endangered Species Act. Over time, April 22 has established itself as a day of environmental awareness and environmental action in the United States. In 1990, the organization founded by Denis Hayes launched its first global campaign.
Today, this organization is called EarthDay.org, and Earth Day has become the largest secular celebration in the world, with more than 75,000 partner organizations and one billion people participating each year. From one-day educational seminars at a Brazilian university to Fridays for Future protests in Nigeria and cleanups in Iowa, Earth Day has become a global day of action.
Earth Day Options
April 22, 2023 will mark the 53rd Earth Day. For Earth Day 2023, EarthDay.org continues to emphasize its Invest in Our Planet campaign. The campaign has six branches: promoting climate literacy; the fight against plastic pollution; the Canopy tree-planting project to combat deforestation; civic engagement; the great global cleansing; and sustainable fashion. Most of them are a continuation of last year, but civic engagement is given a new emphasis with Vote Earth and sustainable fashion emphasizes youth participation.
This week, learn more about EarthDay.org’s campaigns and see if any of them resonate with you. If any of them do, find a way to get more involved and make a plan to be part of the campaign on Earth Day and over the next year.
Earth Day Action
Many campaigns encourage lifestyle changes or other actions that you can take quietly at home in your spare time. If you’re looking for a way to mark the day and make it special, there are literally thousands of Earth Day events to attend. Use EarthDay.org’s interactive map to find events near you and choose one to join. If you can’t find a suitable event to join, you can use EarthDay.org’s online resources and planning tools to create your own event. You can organize a to cleanarrange a clothes swap, plan a digital eventor prepare a teach in, online or in person. Whatever your project, be sure to register on EarthDay.org so others can find and join you and to have your event counted.
