Today we celebrate Earth! Founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues, Earth Day is now a globally celebrated holiday that is sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of events focused on green awareness.

  So who thought of Earth Day? It was the idea of Senator Gaylord Nelson and was inspired by the antiwar protests of the late 1960s. Originally, Earth Day was about a mass environmental movement. It began as a “national teach-in on the environment” and was held on April 22 to reach as many students as possible on university campuses.

Senator Nelson was intent on raising public awareness of air and water pollution, hoping to bring environmental causes into the national spotlight.

Since Earth Day was conceived, celebrations have grown by leaps and bounds. In 1990, Earth Day went global, with 200 million people in more than 140 nations participating, according to the Earth Day Network.

In 2000, Earth Day focused on clean energy and involved hundreds of millions of people in 184 countries and 5,000 environmental groups. Today, the EDN works with more than 17,000 partners and organizations in 174 countries.

Happy Earth Day guys! Let's take care of her, she's the only Earth we got!

 

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