Monday, April 22nd is Earth\r\nDay – a global event to celebrate Mother Nature and put environmental\r\nissues in the spotlight. About a billion\r\npeople worldwide commemorate Earth Day each year by signing petitions,\r\nplanting trees or cleaning up their neighborhoods.
\r\nU.S.\r\nSenator Gaylord Nelson founded the idea for Earth Day after seeing the\r\ndevastation caused by the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill, which killed more than\r\n3500 birds off the coast of California.
The first\r\nEarth Day, April 22, 1970, was marked by 22 million Americans who\r\nmarched to protest against damage done to the environment. That event led to the creation of the United\r\nStates Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of environmental\r\nlegislation. Since then, Earth Day has\r\nspread worldwide and is now celebrated in more than 190 countries.
\r\nThis\r\nyear’s theme is 'Protect Our Species' and raises awareness to the rapid\r\nextinction of species across the world, which is directly linked to human\r\nactivity—the cause of climate change, deforestation and pollution.
\r\nThe Earth\r\nDay Network – which runs Earth Day – says 40% of the world's 11,000\r\nbird species are in decline, and 75% of the world’s coral reefs are under\r\nstress. To slow the extinction rate,\r\nsupporters are taking actions such as going vegetarian or avoiding the use of\r\npesticides and herbicides.
\r\nPeople\r\ncan do a number of things to tackle climate change and protect the environment\r\nto save species across the world. Here\r\nare just a few: switching sunscreen\r\nto protect coral, participating in a beach cleanup, reducing their plastic\r\nwaste, planting trees, switching to reusable bags or creating a bee-friendly\r\ngarden. Other ways include using public\r\ntransportation to cut emissions, buying energy-efficient appliances and\r\nelectronics and supporting sustainable fisheries.