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Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Earth Day is April 22nd by Vicky Spelman

Courtesy Verizon
Earth Day is April 22 of every year, and this year will mark 50 years of Earth Day.  A lot of things are closed or canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic, but Earth Day is not one of them. 



The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10% of the U.S. population at the time — took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet.  That day is credited with launching the modern environmental movement, and now is recognized as the planet’s largest civic event. 



Courtesy Pinterest
Earth Day continues to hold major international significance: In 2016, the United Nations chose Earth Day as the day when the historic Paris Agreement on climate change was signed into force.

Organizers of the event have turned this year’s 50th anniversary of the green holiday into the first-ever Digital Earth Day.  That means a global mobilization to address urgent threats to people and the planet will go on, mostly online. Two big parts: a smartphone app as part of the Earth Challenge 2020 citizen science initiative and a push toward teaching materials and other toolkits that children and adults can use even if schools are closed and people can’t gather in large groups due to the potential spread of the virus.
 
Courtesy Goodhousekeeping
Plant a Tree - Billions of trees are cut down every year to create the things that we use every day. Why not give one back? ~Goodhousekeeping 




The “green things growing” whisper me
Of many an earth-old mystery
.
–Eben Eugene Rexford


Summer, fall, winter, spring,
The seasons rotate as each brings
Its special beauty to this Earth of ours.
Winter’s snow and summer’s flowers;
Frozen rivers will flow come spring,
There is a renewal of everything
.
–Edna Frohock