World Earth Day 2024: Date, theme, history, significance and celebrations
World Earth Day 2024: Each year on April 22, the world celebrates Earth Day to create awareness about the vital need to protect our planet from pollution.
Earth day continues to grow as a worldwide event focused on promoting clean living and a healthy, sustainable habitat for all living beings. The day also reminds us how fragile our planet is and how it is important to save it from the global climate crisis that is worsening with each passing day.
Every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement since 1970.
The theme for World Earth Day 2024 is Planet vs Plastics. The theme aims to bring attention to the serious issue of plastic pollution and how it harms nature.
The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, marking the birth of the modern environmental movement. It was founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, USA, who was inspired to organize a nationwide demonstration after witnessing the devastating 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. On that day, millions of people took to the streets to protest environmental degradation and advocate for a healthier, more sustainable planet.
World Earth Day serves as a global platform to mobilize individuals, communities, governments, and organizations to take collective action in addressing pressing environmental issues. It highlights the interconnectedness of all living beings and ecosystems and underscores the importance of preserving Earth's natural resources for future generations.
World Earth Day is celebrated in various ways around the world. Activities may include tree planting events, clean-up campaigns, educational workshops, environmental film screenings, art exhibitions, and advocacy campaigns. Additionally, many organizations and individuals use the occasion to launch initiatives aimed at promoting environmental sustainability and driving positive change.
Earth Day is widely recognised as the largest secular observance in the world, marked by more than a billion people every year as a day of action to change human behaviour and create global, national and local policy changes.
- With inputs from agencies
