Earth Day started on April 22, 1970 when millions of people took to the streets to protest the negative impacts of industrial development, such as smog, pollution and the decline in biodiversity. The government took notice and in July of 1970, they created the Environmental Protection Agency, and environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.
Earth Day is now a global event with more than 1 billion people in 192 countries participating in the largest civic-focused day of action in the world. The theme for Earth Day 2019 is “Protect Our Species.” According to the EarthDay.org website “the world is facing the greatest rate of extinction since we lost the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago” and this “rapid extinction of species in our world today is the result of human activity…climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution and pesticides to name a few.” Go to the campaign website to learn more about how you can get involved to help raise awareness, achieve policy change, activate a global movement and other individual actions.