Earth Day Celebrations: Notes for IAS Exam

Every year on April 22nd we celebrate Earth Day. The Earth day is conducted in more than 192 countries around the world. The Earth Day is expected to display backing for conserving the environment.

It is very important to refer to all the important dates related to the environment and others for the IAS Examination. 

Background of World Earth Day

In the  United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Conference held in 1969 San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth first to be celebrated on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.

A month later a United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the National Coordinator. Nelson and Hayes renamed the event “Earth Day.”  The first Earth Day was focused on the United States. In 1990, Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international and organized events in 141 nations.

To know more about the World Environment Day, visit the linked article

Facts about Earth Day

Here we are giving some interesting facts about Earth Day.

1. The maiden Earth Day was observed on April 22, 1970.
2. On the first Earth Day, 20 million people assembled in the streets of the USA to protest against the industrial pollution, loss of biodiversity and ecological degradation. As a result of it, a first of its kind grass root level environment movement emerged.
3. Earth Day was first celebrated in the United States but later was celebrated globally by 1990.
4. Disney released a documentary film called Earth that trailed the relocation paths of four animal families On Earth Day 2009.
5. Annually on April 22, people all over the world clean up garbage, plant many trees, clean up coral reefs, display movies, sign petitions, and plan processes and policies for an improved future for our planet.
6. Earth Day was re-named officially by the United Nations in 2009 as International Mother Earth Day.
7. In 2011, Afghanistan saw 28 million trees being planted.
8. On Earth Day 2012, over a hundred thousand people rode bicycles in China to diminish carbon dioxide emissions and save fuel.
9. 100 endangered species of orchids were planted and preserved to prevent their extinction in respect of Earth Day in Panama.

Earth Day – UPSC Notes:- Download PDF Here

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