40 Years of Earth Day Will be Celebrated April 22

Where Were You When You First Heard of Earth Day?

April 22 will mark the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, a global movement to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment.   While there is much work to be done to banish unsustainable practices; I believe that we should feel proud about how far this movement has come over the years.

I first heard of Earth Day myself when I was 14 years old.  My parents decided we should attend an Earth Day rally in Raleigh, North Carolina and hear some guy named Ralph Nader speak (I laugh now that I had no idea who he was at the time….).  Though I was not impressed with the speaker, I remember the passion and the enthusiasm expressed by the crowd; and I believe that small rally held on the NC State Campus left a life long impression on me and helped to foster a true desire to improve our environment.  It inspired me to lobby my high school administrators to put a recycling bin for soda cans in our lunchroom; a radical concept at the time- and a major pain, I had to personally haul those things to the recycling center!    I would like to think if a small rally held over 20 years ago could inspire me so much- I wonder what all the attention from the media, celebrities and the President of the United States are doing for young people today?

I am thrilled to see how much attention Earth Day gets each year.   What started as a vision to bring greater visibility to environmental issues from Senator Gaylord Nelson has evolved into one of the most significant global movements in human history with a range of initiatives and events all over the world.  Not to mention, Organic Bug is celebrating with it’s largest contest in history: we are giving away 40 prizes to 40 lucky winners who enter between now and April 22.    So I am curious to hear from you- where were you the first time you heard of Earth Day?

“As we continue to tackle our environmental challenges, it’s clear that change won’t come from Washington alone. It will come from Americans across the country who take steps in their own homes and their own communities to make that change happen.”-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA