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#bioPGH Blog: The History of Earth Day
A resource of Biophilia: Pittsburgh, #bioPGH is a weekly blog and social media series that aims to encourage both children and adults to reconnect with nature and enjoy what each of our distinctive seasons has to offer. From the best times to plant seasonal flora and enjoy their peak blooms, to astronomical events and creatures to keep an eye and ear out for, Phipps will keep you in the know with what’s going on in our environment!
Have you entered our #bioPGH Earth Day Discovery Contest yet? Get the guidelines and head over to Instagram to add to the conversation!
As the most well-known secular observance in the world, Earth Day has come to be celebrated across classrooms, cities and even continents as the one day when environmental health and wellbeing truly takes center stage. While we have been taught in school to respect the earth, all of its environments and creatures that reside in them, we may not have learned, or don’t quite remember, just how this movement began and how far it has come. The fight for environmental justice and increased public awareness began in 1962 after Pittsburgh’s own Rachel Carson published her New York Times bestseller Silent Spring, but the idea that would become Earth Day was originally proposed by the late U.S. Senator of Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, in 1979 after witnessing the extensive damage caused the Santa Barbara oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by student anti-war rallies protesting the Vietnam War, Senator Nelson along with Pete McCloskey, a Republican Congressman, and Denis Hayes of Harvard University, coordinated their own public rallies and events from coast-to-coast on April 22, 1970, a date chosen for its compatibility with the college students’ exam and break schedules, in order to force environmental protection into the national political agenda.
Not only did April 22, 1970 mark the first official Earth Day, but it also marked the beginning of the age of environmental awareness, with the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts all taking place by the end of that very same year. But the movement didn’t stop there, in 1990 environmental leaders reached out to Denis Hayes to organize another campaign, but with the goal this time to address environmental issues on the global scale. With the help of approximately 200-million people in 141 countries across the globe, environmental issues took to the world stage, resulting in a dramatic increase in worldwide recycling efforts and ultimately the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. While great strides have been made to increase environmental protection, literacy and public awareness, we’re still witnessing considerable fluctuations in global climates and weather patterns; an increase in environmental degradation and pollution as a result of consumerism; and as a result, the expedited decline of several species. But, despite the overwhelming persistence of dismal news, there is still hope for the environment. New studies are showing that forest restoration is having a significant impact on lessening the effects of climate change; green buildings help to reduce the urban heat island effect and improve occupant wellness; and that there are in fact populations of animals once thought to have gone extinct alive and well in the wild!
Connecting to the Outdoors Tip: While Earth Day may still not be for another week, Phipps, the City of Pittsburgh and others have already gotten the jump on paying homage to our planet and advocating for environmental awareness. You too can get a kick start on this year’s Earth Day celebration in a variety of ways. Consider directly helping our local environment by taking part in Nine Mile Run Watershed’s “Spring Stream Sweep” event this weekend, or if you’re feeling particularly ambitious, even organizing your very own clean-up event in one of our many city parks! Also consider taking a trip to a local nursery, such as Sylvania Natives, where you can invest in some native plants and check the age-old pledge to “plant a tree on Earth Day” off of your to-do list. If you don’t have quite as much time as you would like to do one of those activities, consider doing something as simple requesting a recycling bin or saving your blue grocery bags so that you can recycle your discarded glass, paper, plastic, cardboard and metal. And if you have little ones, consider seeing how they would like to help the environment by having them create a “caring for the environment tree.” Not only will you have the opportunity to find out what makes the environment special for your little one, but you may even come up with some fun family activities to help them take care of it!
While you’re out and about, don’t forget to document it. A photo could win you a one year membership to Phipps Conservatory! From now until 10 p.m. EST on Sunday, April 17 if you post a photo of something amazing that you discovered in one of Western Pennsylvania’s many natural spaces, along with a brief caption explaining how this image inspires you to care for the earth, to Instagram using the hashtag #bioPGH you will automatically be entered into Phipps’ #bioPGH Earth Day Discovery Contest! Three winners will be chosen by Phipps to receive a complementary one year membership and have their pictures displayed in the Welcome Center during our Earth Day Celebration from Fri., April 22 – Mon., April 25.
Continue the Conversation: Share your nature discoveries with our community by posting to Twitter and Instagram with hashtag #bioPGH, and R.S.V.P. to attend our next Biophilia: Pittsburgh meeting.
Additional Resources:
Earth Day – April 22nd – Earth Day Network
Earth Day: Facts & History – Live Science
The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson
Santa Barbara Well Blowout – NOAA Incident News
Overview of the Clean Air Act and Air Pollution – US Environmental Protection Agency
Summary of the Clean Water Act - US Environmental Protection Agency
Summary of the Endangered Species Act – US Environmental Protection Agency
Earth Day Celebration – Phipps Conservatory
Global Climate Change – Vital Signs of the Planet – NASA
As Consumerism Spreads, Earth Suffers, Study Says – National Geographic
The Extinction Crisis – Center for Biological Diversity
Photo Ark – National Geographic
China’s Forest Recovery Shows Hope for Mitigating Global Climate Change – ScienceDaily
Green Building - Environmental Protection Agency
‘Extinct’ Species Found Alive and Kicking – Science on NCB News
Pittsburgh Earth Day
Nine Mile Run “Spring Stream Sweep”
Volunteer Litter Clean-Up Application – City of Pittsburgh, Department of Public Works
Sylvania Natives Nursery
How to Make a “Caring For My Environment Tree” – Ms. Roberts Lesson Plans
#bioPGH Earth Day Discovery Contest – Phipps Conservatory
Photos © Paul g. Wiegman, Cory Doman
