By Gaby Moran
Staff Writer
Once a year, Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 to, obviously, appreciate what the Earth has given us, but also to make people aware of the problems humans have caused to the planet and how to fix it.
“This is a great day to get more people aware of how they are hurting the environment and how we need to start fixing what we’ve done,” senior Shaeylen Macedonio said.
Earth Day was founded 40 years ago by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. Nelson started talking about how America needed a nationwide teach-in day about the environment and after one year, he was able to have the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.
The first Earth Day did not have a big budget, but it was still celebrated across the nation. Every year after the first, the budget increased giving the foundation better opportunities to spread the word out.
“Earth Day is one way that the world can come together and focus at the problems that they all are facing and not just a few countries,” sophomore Braden Chausse said.
Although Earth Day is to celebrate the whole Earth, other countries did not celebrate the day until the 20th one in 1990. On this day, 121 countries came together and started to recognize the environmental issues at hand.
With many people involved, there are several foundations that help organize Earth Day and with so many issues, choose a specific one that will be in more detailed that year.
Recent Earth Days have changed drastically than in the beginning. Now, with a bigger budget and more people involved, the word can be easily spread across the world.
With such a sensation to become environmentally safe, many companies, like Bahama Umbrella, are designing products that are safer for the planet for people to purchase.
For the 40th Earth Day, the main topic is dealing with the water on the planet and how people can help save the marine life and make the ocean healthy again.
Recently, Disney has been bringing out movies on Earth Day that explore the harsh reality and the amazing plants and animals that live with it.
“I love all the Disneynature movies just because while its fun to see all the cute animals, it helps me be aware of what is going on in the world that the news doesn’t show a lot,” senior Jessie King said.
This year, they released the movie Oceans which shows and talks about all the mysteries underneath the surface.
Because of one U.S. Senator, Earth Day has become a worldwide holiday that allows anyone from any country or religions celebrate because everyone is in the same boat as others.
So do something environmentally safe today and the future days to come to help Earth become clean and healthy again.
