Earth Day celebrates its 40th anniversary today.
The first Earth Day came about as the result of a public concern about protecting and improving the environment backed by a broad support for an environmental movement. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wis., came up with the idea of using one day each year as a focal point for expressing concern about the environment. The goal was to summon public support and commitment to save our environment.
Nearly 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day celebration on April 22, 1970.
Nelson offered this theory. "There is a profound moral question that revolves around the issue of how we treat the life-giving resources of the planet," he said. "Do we who are here today owe anything to future generations of people and other living things?"
Earth Day is a perfect time to reflect about what we are doing to to help the environment.
This year, the official Earth Day campaign suggests the world is in greater peril than ever. While climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, it also presents the greatest opportunity to build a healthy, prosperous, clean energy economy now and for the future.
Here are some simple ideas to participate today:
Begin paying your bills online and stop paper bills
Use cold water for your laundry
Invest in eco-friendly cleaning products
Use a reusable coffee mug
Turn of your computer at the end of the day at work
Teach your children to enjoy the outdoors
Take your own shopping bags to the grocery store
A great deal of progress has been made since the first Earth Day in bringing us closer to realizing our impact on our environment.
Today is an important celebration of our commitment to that goal.