Where do the largest Earth Day celebrations take place?
Around a billion people in 192 countries are dedicated to finding a sustainable way for humanity to coincide with nature under the banner of Earth Day.
Traveling across the United States you used to be able to tell when you were arriving at a city by the yellow-gray cloud that extended out over a metropolis far beyond when you could actually see the buildings on the horizon. Nowadays, the air might be cleaner but that pollution has simply been exported to other parts of the world. We look at horror when we see pictures of Delhi, Cairo or Beijing, among other urban centers around the world, draped in smog and think how could that be.
The air quality, and that of our water, in the US and across other “developed” nations has improved considerably since people began to take import about how we as humans are affecting the world around us through our activities. But there is still much work to be done. That is why we celebrate Earth Day, so that all of humanity can breathe freely and drink the essence of life without fear of risking their health.
Where do the largest Earth Day celebrations take place?
Earth Day was the brainchild of Wisconsin US Senator Gaylord Nelson, who with the help of Pete McCloskey, a US Representative from California, and a young activist Denis Haynes, who gave the event its name Earth Day, made it a reality. They along with a crew of 85 people, Hayes and his team had brought together from disparate groups to promote, got 10% of the US population, some 20 million people, to come out onto the streets for the first event on 22 April 1970.
Nowadays, there are around one billion people in 192 countries who are dedicated to the cause of finding a sustainable way for humanity to coincide with nature so that all lifeforms can enjoy a healthy life. It is considered the largest secular observance in the world.
Earth Day events across the world can bring together hundreds to hundreds of thousands of individuals who want to clean up our planet to make a better future for generations to come. In 2023, once again people got together in the beautiful state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is often referred to as ‘Heaven on Earth’, to clean up the Dal Lake.
In Hawaii and Florida, for several years now divers have been getting together to clean up the ocean, thousands more on land clean the beaches. In 2019, the Save Deerfield Beach Event, in Florida, brought together 633 divers who recovered 3,200lbs of fishing gear, over a third of that was lead fishing weights.
In Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, it is typical in a given year that over 100,000 visitors will come to learn about sustainability and environmentalism in a two-day celebration of Earth. Last year some 60,000 people came out for ‘The Big One’ march in London organized by the Extinction Rebellion UK in partnership with 200 other organizations.
These are just but a handful of events that take place in cities large and small around the globe on Earth Day.