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What you can do for Earth Day this year

Earth Day is a day of action across the globe seeking to change human behavior and provoke policy change regarding the environment.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Earth Day is a day of action across the globe seeking to change human behavior and provoke policy change regarding the environment.

Earth Day was founded in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. It was envisioned as a day of education about environmental issues. Earth Day gave voice to an emerging public consciousness about pollution and what it was doing to our environment. It also highlighted the connection between pollution and public health. This was an effort to put environmental issues on the front page.

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive rallies across the country. Thousands of colleges and universities took part—including colleges here in West Michigan. That Earth Day event was organized in part by Vern Ehlers, then a physics professor but soon to be legislator. WMEAC will be honoring Vern Ehlers' accomplishments and memory at the Blue Tie Ball this year.

Earth Day 1970 was bipartisan, earning support from both Republicans and Democrats. By the end of that year, the first Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.

Earth Day went global in 1990, with 200 million people in 141 countries lifting environmental issues to the forefront. This event paved the way to the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

With 5,000 environmental groups in 184 countries reaching out to hundreds of millions of people, Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. At this point, Earth Day activists were focused on global warming and a push for clean energy.

In 2010, Earth Day Network brought 250,000 people to the National Mall for a Climate Rally, and launched the world’s largest environmental service project—A Billion Acts of Green®– a global tree planting initiative that has since grown into The Canopy Project.

WMEAC has been celebrating Earth Day since its beginning and this year, they celebrate Earth Day and their 50th anniversary with their Blue Tie Ball—Thursday, April 26 at the Goei Center. Tickets are still available.

What can you do to participate?

  • Conserve energy and promote cleaner air—walk, ride your bike or carpool for the day
  • Help ensure that the rivers and lakes are cleaner by cleaning out the storm drain on your street. It only takes minutes for storm water to go from the street where it falls to your local stream or river. Storm water is a large polluter of the Great Lakes.
  • Plant a tree
  • Review your recycling at home and at work! Make sure you are recycling correctly by double checking the top of your recycling container with your family. If you aren't recycling already, get to it!
  • Contact the Kent County Department of Public Works and take your kids on a tour of its Recycling & Education Center.
  • Join a group that is focused on taking care of the environment—there are lots in West Michigan. They are always looking for volunteers!
  • Stop drinking bottled water. That plastic never goes away and is clogging our oceans. So, us a reusable water bottle instead.
  • Contact your legislators at the state or national level and tell them you want them to work to make sure our environment is protected!
  • Go to a local event! There are a few happening

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