The Earth is a perfect planet, in constant balance, until the human being intervenes, degrading it, polluting it and overexploiting it. Given this need, an International day has been established to deal with the problems that our planet suffers, it is Earth Day. When is Earth Day 2021 celebrated and why is it celebrated?we will see it next.
when is earth day
The day was set April 22 as International Earth Dayendorsed by the UN, as a special day in which make problems visible that suffers and affects our planet and generated by the hand of man.
The UN resolution recognizes Earth and its various ecosystems as our home. It is we who we must find the balance between economic, social and environmental needs. A balance that can only be achieved promoting the harmony of man with naturein short, with the Earth.
April 22 was chosen, since it was the April 22, 1970when the senator Gaylord Nelson, mobilized millions of Americans to take to the streets to raise awareness of the earth’s vulnerability. A mobilization that arose when he witnessed the damage caused by the oil spills in Santa Bárbara.
Why is Earth Day celebrated?
It is a day that was born to evaluate and face the multiple Earth’s problemsproblems like overpopulation, pollution, overexploitation, etc. April 22 should be a tribute to our planet, a recognition of our mother, our home, as it has been called since the oldest cultures.
A beautiful planet, with great variety of ecosystems and different types of life, among which we find ourselves. Earth is not human and yet, we are the ones who mistreat her.
No doubt, our planet is sicka disease that only man has been able to produce and it is man who must do everything possible to cure it.
It arises from the need to create a specific day dedicated to our planet. A day to inform, raise awareness and influence the population about the situation in which we find ourselves. The serious consequences of abuse and neglect to which we are submitting.
His official name is International Mother Earth Day, although it is better known by its abbreviated form, Earth Day. Unfortunately, it is not a day celebrated globally, although more and more countries are joining this initiative.
Since the establishment of Earth daythe impact on society has become a global concern. The initiatives have been happening, separation of waste, cleaning of plastics and other waste in rivers, forests, etc.
Awareness is spreading among the population although not so much between their governments. Since the establishment of Earth day To this day, the environmental problem has worsened. now we are many more inhabitants on the planet, the proliferation by the industry of plastic materials it has increased. Pollution it has reached unhealthy levels, raising the carbon levels of the earth.
The ozone layer, global warming, CO2 emissions, overpopulation, transgenic cropsfires, etc., are contributing to the rapid degradation of our mother Earth. Average temperatures rise alarmingly causing hottest summers every time and most devastating winters.
Thawing of the poles, plastics inside the stomachs of the fish that we later ingest, waste uncontrolled etc All these factors accelerate the natural imbalance of the Earth and it does not have the capacity for such rapid regeneration.
We are aware of the need a big change in our way of life, to reconnect with nature, but vested interests, economic marketsyes, the interest on oilare pitfalls that the political leaders of the most polluting countries still seem unwilling to tackle.
Origin of Earth Day
To find the origin of Earth Day, we have to go back to 1970, when senator nelson promoted a peaceful protests in favor of the environment. A protest following the model of the protests that took place during the Vietnam War.
The consequences were not long in coming, it was a demonstration of thousands of Americanswhich as Nelson himself recounted shortly before his death, with great repercussion.
Thousands of telegrams, letters, telephone inquiries arrived from all over the country. It was the time of hippie movementlove of nature and the protests. Now they had a place to express all concerns about the havoc that was taking place in rivers, lakes, the land or the air. It was a spectacular answer by the population.
That demonstration was attended by the activist Denis Hayesnowadays, essential motor of the ecological movement. A demonstration that changed the way of seeing and understanding diversity of ecosystems, an interest in their protection.
were dictated New laws like that of the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States (1970) and little by little the interest in improve our planetthe quality of its waters and air has been gaining ground among the political leaders.
A peaceful revolution that served the rest of the world to realize that it was in our hands to let the Earth die or put all the means to save her. In short, knock down walls.
We could say that the concern for the Environment dates back to the second decade of the 19th century. When Humboldtadvanced in his work some facts that have finally been shown to be true.
Humboldt already spoke of the consequences of deforestation for cultivation, the drought in the rivers due to uncontrolled irrigation, depleting the aquifers. All these actions would cause great torrents when the heavy rains reached the peaks.
Since land without vegetation, without grass or moss to retain water, would cause great floods capable of destroying an entire country.
Few years later, Ernest Haeckel father of ecologydescribed how the forests of the Middle East had transformed the climate of the regionwhen they were felled. How the soils had become barren soils because of climate change and how hunger would be one of the most important migratory causes.
In 1859, naturalist George Perkins Marsh, warned of the excesses that were being carried out by man and how dangerous they could be. Contrasted truths like the disappearance of the fish in lakes and rivers due to indiscriminate fishing and pollution of the factories.
how to create the dams and mills They prevented the fish from going up the riverbeds. How the sawdust of the sawmills installed in lakes and rivers, clog the gills of fish.
The farmers they killed the birds to protect their crops which caused the appearance of swarms of insects that devastated the crops.
Like the wild cattle were sacrificed for their fur, when the fashion for fur coats arose in Paris. The same would happen with the ostriches for their feathersthe elephants for their tusks or the whales for their oil.
Excessive irrigation causes salinization of the land cultivation, also reducing the riverbeds.
Concluding that it was the human being the one that represented the greatest threat to animals and plants. He even predicted the end of human beings on earth when the planet is left desolate on the surface, generating a climate change that would lead us to extinction.
161 years later, these changes have been intensified and who knows if his prophecy will be fulfilled. We hope that the human being reconsiders and becomes more protector with nature.
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