People from all over the world hope to raise awareness about the environment
The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is on April 22nd. For those of you who are not familiar with Earth Day, it is a day that is designed to inspire awareness about the natural environment and about issues that negatively impact the Earth.
From the time Earth Day began in 1970 to today in 2010, there has been a sky-high increase in the number of people participating in environmental activities all over the world. It is anticipated that approximately 1.5 billion people will be participating in Earth Day activities.
The Green Generation Campaign will be the focus of Earth Day’s 40th anniversary. The campaign is a two year initiative that was launched during the previous year’s Earth Day. The campaign serves to engage individuals located anywhere in the world to improve their health, their schools and participate in finding a solution to the core issues our Earth faces today and in the future.
There are several core issues about which the participants of Earth Day hope to generate more awareness, such as: climate change, energy, food and agriculture, conservation and biodiversity, recycling and waste reduction, sustainable development, and water.
However, all of these issues don’t stand alone—many of them spawn from one another. For example, the use of pesticides in agriculture and the growing issues related to water are linked because of the use of pesticides and fertilizers which contaminate declining fresh water sources.
According to earthday.org, Americans consume approximately 25 per cent of the earth’s resources, but consist of only five per cent of the world’s population. It is no wonder that Earth Day has been designated a special day to make people more aware about consumption and pollution.
Many cities choose to extend the events of Earth Day to a week. Earth Week tends to span from April 16th to April 22nd, in order to draw more people to participate in activities that would benefit the environment. Earth Day has also grown into Earth Week in order to accommodate the large amount of events and projects. In many areas, tree planting and community clean-ups are the most popular ways in which people choose to participate.
Students who wish to take part in Earth Day can give themselves an environmental challenge. It can be to clean up a street section within Lennoxville or to bring awareness and share tips with their peers about environmental issues and how to be more sustainable.
Participating in Earth Day isn’t the only time that students should choose to become friendlier towards the environment. Adopting a sustainable lifestyle is only one of the habits that people should be taking on during this day of awareness.
