We love our planet – and must take care of it. Earth Day, on April 22, is a yearly reminder for us think green all year long. Here’s how it got started.
The first Earth Day took place in 1970, but the idea actually started in 1962.
Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson was concerned about the rapidly deteriorating state of our environment and that the government was not doing enough to address issues like air and water pollution and global warming, in fact, such issues were not even part of the political agenda.
He saw how effective student protests against the war in Vietnam had been and wanted to stir equal passion about the need to protect our environment. Nelson went to Washington to convince President John F. Kennedy to go on a conservation tour. Kennedy liked the idea and agreed.
In September of 1963, President Kennedy went on a 5 day 11-city conservation tour. Who could be better to put environmental issues in the spotlight? It was an ambitious idea, but the tour was not a success. However, the seeds had been sown.
Sen. Nelson continued seaking across the country about environmental issues and continued to look for ways to bring them into the national spotlight. But he knew he had to get people excited about the idea.
He was inspired by the energy of students during the Vietnam War. Protests and teach-ins were happening on college campuses all over the country. This would be the perfect audience for a grassroots movement for the environment.
In 1969, Nelson announced that in the Spring of 1970 there would be a huge grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment. The idea took off, and for the next three months, Nelson’s office was flooded with calls, letters and telegrams from people concerned about what was happening to the Earth. The first Earth Day involved 20 million demonstrators and thousands of schools and local communities.
It was a huge success. People were demonstrating against the misuse of fossil fuels, spoiling natural wilderness and global warming – big issues that still threaten our planet today.
Now more than ever, with more and more evidence of global warming, our planet needs our help.
Here are some simple things you can do to help our planet Earth:
– Recycle. This means separating your trash-newspapers, plastic containers and glass bottles so that the materials can be made into new containers. This reduces waste in landfills. Most apartment buildings have special recycling cans.
– Use those funny-looking coiled light bulbs. They use 75 percent less energy than standard incandescent bulbs, and, they last ten times longer.
– Limit your use of disposable items like plastic. They just wind up in landfills.
– Write letters to your elected officials urging them to pass laws that protect the environment.
– RemindMom and Dad to check the tires on the family car. Poorly inflated tires waste about two million gallons of gas every day. With today’s gas prices, that’s a lot of money.
– Be kind to animals. After all, the Earth is their home too.
Source: earthday.earthlink.org
Today’s lesson fulfills the following standards: ELA: 1c, 2b, 3c, 3d, 4a, 4b, 5a;
Classroom Extra at nypost.com.
NEW YORK POST ACTIVITIES
USE the Internet to learn more about Earth Day.
*****
WRITE an essay on things you can do to help protect the planet. Try to do these things each day.
*****
YOU may be young, but you can make a difference. You can get some more ideas. Visit http://www.earthdayny.org to read about what happened at this year’s celebration at Grand Central Terminal.