April 22, 2010 09:31 by
Sarah 
40 years ago, on April 22nd, 1970 Gaylord Nelson took a stand for the environment. The democratic Govenor of Wisconson founded Earth Day as "an environmental demonstration" designed to teach people about conservation issues. The premise was simple: "All people, regardless of race, gender, income, or geography have a moral right to a healthy sustainable environment." One might argue that truer words have never been spoken.
40 years ago, on April 22nd, 1970, 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day. Today, it is estimated that 1.5 BILLION people will undertake 31 billion acts of green organized by 19,000 organizations in 190 countries. This astounding fact shows how far we've come in the past 40 years, but one monumental truth remains: the damage facing our environment is more prominent than ever. I now pose a question: Yes, Earth Day is today. But what about tomorrow?
Today is the day when the world will be bombarded with "green" facts. It's our duty as environmentally concerned individuals to make sure that these facts are not just shared today, but tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. Everyone will be told that bringing a reusable tumbler to the coffee shop will help cut down on paper waste, but will they do that? Everyone will be told that bringing reusable grocery bags to the grocery store will cut down on the billions of plastic bags that end up in landfills, but how many people will be toting their non-woven totes into the store? We need to lead by example and make our voices heard. We need to stand up for Earth Day on April 23rd. We need to stand up for Earth Day on May 4th. We need to stand up for Earth Day on Memorial Day and on the 4th of July and on Halloween. We need to stand up for Earth Day on Thanksgiving and on New Year's Day.
We need to lead by example and encourage others to join us. We need to stand up for Earth Day every day of the year because the truth of the matter is that Earth Day isn't really about today. It's about tomorrow.
36eb96ed-44e4-4859-91fa-765fbde9ed01|0|.0