On April 22, people all across the world pause from their busy schedules to participate in Earth Day events to show their commitment to environmental protection. The theme for Earth Day in 2023 is “Invest in our planet,” which encourages individuals and organizations to collaborate on creating a sustainable economy for Earth.
EarthDay.org, which coordinates Earth Day celebrations throughout the world, reports that the theme for Earth Day 2023 encourages people to create a more sustainable economy and ensure that everyone benefits from progress toward a more equitable future.
To achieve this goal, it is essential that companies, innovators, investors, and the financial markets promote green innovation and practices. When properly harnessed, the private sector’s immense strength can effect far-reaching, systemic shifts.
Governments also have a role to play in fostering progress toward a more just and sustainable international order by creating favorable conditions for citizens, corporations, and other institutions to do so. Every person on Earth can make a difference by exercising their right to vote and by supporting businesses that share our commitment to environmental sustainability by spending their money there.
On April 22, 1970, more than 50 years ago, the inaugural Earth Day was observed. In an interview with Time published in 2019, Earth Day founder Denis Hayes discussed the origins of the celebration.
In the late 1960s, several concerns about the environment were brought to the forefront of the public’s attention. Silent Spring, written by Rachel Carson and released in 1962, is sometimes referred to as the “first shot in the war over the environment.”
The Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969 was a subsequent event that provided graphic depictions of environmental catastrophe. They recorded the creatures they observed covered in oil and eventually dying. In 1969, decades before fires were common in Bengaluru’s Bellandur Lake, one broke out in the Cuyahoga River in the United States.
Public outrage about environmental degradation was stoked by the allegedly dismal images of water. All this occurred as the United States was constructing vast stretches of interstate highways and as citizens of all persuasions began fretting over the impact of automobile pollution on their communities.
Activist for world peace John McConnell proposed a day of recognition for the planet and for the idea of world peace at a UNESCO summit in 1969. This day will be celebrated by the group next year on March 21 in anticipation of the vernal equinox, which marks the first day of spring.
It was only a month after the UN suggestion that US Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed a similar day of observance to bring attention to these issues in the United States. The senator contacted Hayes in an effort to recruit an army of organizers.
The majority of the group helping the senator and Hayes were college students, and since April 22nd, 1970, was a Wednesday, the majority of students would be in class at that time. According to some estimates, almost 20 million Americans took part in the event.
