Earth Day free essay sample

Earth Day  is an annual holiday, celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. In 2013 the day is 43 years old. It is now coordinated globally by the  Earth Day Network,[1]  and is celebrated in more than 192 countries every year. [2] In 1969 at a  UNESCO  Conference in San Francisco, the date proposed was March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of natures equipoise was later sanctioned in a Proclamation signed by Secretary General  U Thant  at the  United Nations. A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by  United States Senator  Gaylord Nelson  as an environmental  teach-in  first held on April 22, 1970. Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in recognition of his work. [3]  While this April 23 Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organization launched by  Denis Hayes, who was the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international in 1990 and organized events in 141 nations. [4][5]  Numerous communities celebrate  Earth Week, an entire week of activities focused on environmental issues. The first Earth Day family had participants and celebrants in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. More importantly, it brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform. [6]  It now is observed in 192 countries, and coordinated by the nonprofit  Earth Day Network, chaired by the first Earth Day 1970 organizer Denis Hayes, according to whom Earth Day is now the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated by more than a billion people every year. [7]  Environmental groups have sought to make Earth Day into a day of action which changes human behavior and provokes policy changes. ]Earth Day 1970 in New York City In the winter of 1969-1970, a group of students met at Columbia University to hear Denis Hayes talk about his plans for Earth Day. Among the group were Fred Kent, Pete Grannis, and Kristin and William Hubbard. This New York group agreed to head up the New York City part of the national movement. Fred Kent took the lead in renting an office and recruiting volunteers. The big break came when Mayor Lindsay agreed to shut down Fifth Avenue for the event. A giant cheer went up in the office on that day, according to Kristin Hubbard (now Kristin Alexandre). From that time on we used Mayor Lindsays offices and even his staff. I was Speaker Coordinator but had tremendous help from Lindsay staffer Judith Crichton. In addition to shutting down  Fifth Avenue, Mayor  John Lindsay  made  Central Park  available for Earth Day. The crowd was estimated as more than one million—by far the largest in the nation. Since  Manhattan  was also the home of NBC, CBS, ABC, the  New York Times, Time, and Newsweek, it provided the best possible anchor for national coverage from their reporters throughout the country. Edmund Muskiespeaking to an estimated 40-60,000 at Fairmount Park, Philadelphia on Earth Day, 1970 U. S. Senator  Edmund Muskie  was the keynote speaker on Earth Day in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. Other notable attendees included consumer protection activist and presidential candidate  Ralph Nader; Landscape Architect  Ian McHarg; Nobel prize-winning Harvard Biochemist,  George Wald; U. S. Senate Minority Leader,  Hugh Scott; and poet,  Allen Ginsberg. Photos, video, and other previously unpublished information are available to the public at EarthWeek1970. The official logo of the  Mount EverestEarth Day 20 International Peace Climb Mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of  environmental issues  onto the world stage, Earth Day activities in 1990 gave a huge boost to  recycling  efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992  United Nations  Earth Summit  in  Rio de Janeiro. Unlike the first Earth Day in 1970, this 20th Anniversary was waged with stronger marketing tools, greater access to television and radio, and multimillion-dollar budgets. 10] Two separate groups formed to sponsor Earth Day events in 1990: The Earth Day 20 Foundation, assembled by  Edward Furia  (Project Director of Earth Week in 1970), and Earth Day 1990, assembled by  Denis Hayes  (National Coordinator for Earth Day 1970). Senator  Gaylord Nelson, the original founder of Earth Day, was honorary chairman for both groups. The two did not combine forces over disagreements about leadership of combined organization and incompatible structures and strategies. 10]  Among the disagreements, key Earth Day 20 Foundation organizers were critical of Earth Day 1990 for including on their boardHewlett Packard, a company that at the time was the second-biggest emitter of chlorofluorocarbons in Silicon Valley and refused to switch to alternative solvents. [10]  In terms of marketing, Earth Day 20 had a grassroots approach to organizing and relied largely on locally based groups like the  National Toxics Campaign, a Boston-based coalition of 1,000 local groups concerned with industrial pollution. Earth Day 1990 employed strategies including focus group testing, direct mail fund raising, and email marketing. 10] The Earth Day 20 Foundation highlighted its April 22 activities in  George, Washington, near the  Columbia River  with a live satellite phone call with members of the historic  Earth Day 20 International Peace Climb  who called from their base camp on  Mount Everest  to pledge their support for world peace and attention to environmental issues. [11]  The Earth Day 20 International Peace Climb was led by  Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mt. Everest (many years earlier), and marked the first time in history that mountaineers from the  United States,  Soviet Union, and  China  had roped together to climb a mountain, let alone.