Earth Day- 22nd April 2010

Earth Day was the brain child of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin who first announced the idea of a nationwide environmental teach-in a speech in 1969. The senator had hoped for a grassroots outcry over environmental issues to prove to the government in Washington D.C. that the public did care about them but even he had not expected the around 20 million participants nationwide that turned up on the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.

Today, the tremendous success of that first Earth Day is seen as the beginning of the modern environmental movement. Since then, Earth Day has grown steadily, already reaching ten times the participation in 1990 when 200 million people in 141 countries participated, picking recycling as their main issue.

In 2000, the event had grown further: Hundreds of thousands of people from 184 nations participated in Earth Day, focusing on global warming and clean energy. The Internet played a big role in connecting and organizing so many people. Earth Day 2007 has so far been the biggest event with over a billion people mobilizing worldwide for the big day.

watch the video for more details on the importance of Earth Day
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/getinvolved/give-earth-a-hand