Earth Day 2020: When was the first Earth Day? How to celebrate in lockdown
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Earth Day is celebrated annually around the world on April 22. More than a billion people celebrate the occasions every year, and in previous years, festivals, rallies and outdoor events have taken place to mark Earth Day in almost 200 countries. This year, however, the celebration will have to be done with social distancing measures in mind, as large parts of the planet is on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
How to celebrate Earth Day in lockdown
Earth Day is an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection.
This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, Earth Day will take place online with organisers promising “24 hours of action” that will “fill the digital landscape with global conversations, calls to action, performances, video teach-ins and more”.
Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson’s daughter Tia said: “At this point the crisis is so great that everything matters including the energy choices we make in our home.
READ MORE: Earth Day 2020: Google celebrates environment-themed Earth Day
This day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by Mr McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.
A month later United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970.
Mr Nelson hired a young activist named Denis Hayes to be the National Coordinator.
Mr Nelson and Mr Hayes renamed the event “Earth Day” and the annual event is today celebrated in more than 200 countries.
The 2020 event will include activities such as the Great Global CleanUp, Citizen Science, Advocacy, Education, and art.
Tia Nelson, the daughter of Earth Day founder says every individual has the power to make a positive difference to our environment.
She said her father would be “deeply concerned” about politicians denying the science and evidence of climate change.
Speaking to Steven Day, co-founder of 100 percent renewable energy supplier Pure Planet, Ms Nelson described climate change as “the biggest environmental challenge humankind has ever faced” and stressed the need for politicians globally with a “principled, science-based stance”.
She said: “The biggest environmental challenge humankind has ever faced is the climate crisis and I believe everyone can make a difference and that individual action matters.
“Think of Greta Thunberg – she could not have known that the simple act of an individual silently sitting with a sign in front of the Swedish parliament protesting the climate change crisis launched a global youth movement that has energised and shaped the climate change movement in unimaginable ways. She couldn’t have known.
“Ultimately the most important thing is that we vote and elect officials to public office who have a principled, science-based stance on addressing the crisis.
“In every democratic society, whether the UK or United States, electing politicians who use the best available science to develop public policy that protects the public interest, protects the environment and addresses the climate change crisis is critical.
“Certainly, in a democratic society, if you’re not an engaged, informed voter electing people who are prioritising this issue then you are not doing your part.”
Discussing the challenges of generating widespread action on climate change in the past 50 years, she said: “In the United States one of the biggest challenges and a really big shift is we now have this scepticism about science.
“That really concerns me and it would really deeply concern my father.
“I know, were he here today, he would tell you this journey of being more sustainable is one we will always be on.
“That’s where I get my hope, my father couldn’t have known the outcome (of founding Earth Day). His values came from a place of principle, he had many defeats but was undeterred.
“Every day he got up committed and tried to make a difference on the issues he thought were most important and the outcome was extraordinary.”
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