BiH
Earth Day is now a global event each year, and we believe that more than 1 billion people in 192 countries now take part in what is the largest civic-focused day of action in the world. It is a day of political action and civic participation. People march, sign petitions, meet with their elected officials, plant trees, clean up their towns and roads. Corporations and governments use it to make pledges and announce sustainability measures. Faith leaders, including Pope Francis, connect Earth Day with protecting God’s greatest creations, humans, biodiversity and the planet that we all live on.
The first Earth Day – April 22, 1970 – is sometimes said to have marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement.
The first Earth Day was a revelation to many, a way not only of raising consciousness about environmental issues but also of bringing together separate groups that had been fighting separately against issues including oil spills, pollutions from factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, the loss of wilderness, air pollution and more. At the first Earth Day in 1970, an estimated 20 million Americans – mostly young – took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy environment and to participate in teach-ins.
Since then, Earth Day has always been celebrated on April 22.
Goals include ending single-use plastics, promoting alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials, promoting 100 percent recycling of plastics, corporate and government accountability and changing human behavior concerning plastics. The project includes four major components:
– Leading a grassroots movement to support the adoption of a global framework to regulate plastic pollution;
– Educating, mobilizing and activating citizens across the globe to demand that governments and corporations control and clean up plastic pollution;
– Educating people worldwide to take personal responsibility for plastic pollution by choosing to reject, reduce, reuse and recycle plastics, and
– Promoting local government regulatory and other efforts to tackle plastic pollution.
Be aware that instead of bottled water, you can always use filtrated water from your tap!
Happy Earth Day!