MAINE, USA —
Happy birthday Earth Day!
Earth Day started in the United States on April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people came out to observe the first Earth Day. Pretty impressive, since that was roughly 10% of the United States population at the time!
Earth Day helped to influence the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, which occurred on December 2, 1970.
As time went on, Earth Day grew larger.
In 1990, Earth Day was put on the world stage and went global. Over 200 million people from 141 countries gathered to help clean up their communities and bring light to environmental issues.
According to earthday.org, Earth Day is now “widely recognized as the largest secular observance in the world,” with over one billion people participating in events.
With the ongoing coronavirus concerns, Earth Day will look a little bit different this year.
In years past, groups small and large used to gather to help clean up their surrounding areas and bring their environmental concerns to light.
With social distancing recommendations now, though, Earth Day is going to be celebrated as a digital holiday.
Some of the events will occur right here in Maine.
Colby College in Waterville is going to be sending out links to documentaries related to the environment. This event also encourages people to go without electricity for an hour on Earth Day.
In Fryeburg, the FA Biology club is encouraging people to clean up their local communities around their homes over the course of the next week. The club also wants to make sure people are staying safe while doing so.
You can get more info on Maine and New England digital events by clicking here.