PLANET EARTH’S DAY

Symbol of Civic Action

The Planet Earth’s Day, the international informal day of our planet, is going to be celebrated for the 31st time this year, since on 22 April in 1970 in the USA it has been established by the Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. Then, in the USA over 20 million people took part in the demonstrations, marches, cleaning actions, tribunes, discussions and other activities the aim of which was to demonstrate the civic awareness about the environment degradation and its resources, not only on local, but on a global level, too. Since then, the 22 April has become a symbol of civic engagement and it has been celebrated in most countries worldwide.
This day is also considered to be one of the important dates when the civic movement established close cooperation with the authorities, since it was initiated and supported by a politician in an official position. The Senator Gaylord Nelson has been one of the first, and nowadays one of the rare politicians who understood the importance of the civic and NGOs involvement, as well as the importance of our global home degradation problem. He has been inspired to organize the campaign for the planet Earth since he saw the recording of our blue-green planet done by the astronauts from the space mission “Apollo” for the first time in 1968. What he uttered afterwards was:

“In those days there was a great civic movement regarding the war in Vietnam. Anti-war protests have been organized throughout the country. It occurred to me that we could organize a national environmental campaign. The news agencies have spread the idea and the response within the public exceeded our expectations. Planet Earth’s Day has accomplished what I hoped for. The aim was to demonstrate a national care for the environment that will initiate a positive reaction in the political arena.

 

M.I