CHICAGO – The annual effort to raise public awareness about the environment marked its 41st anniversary yesterday.
In an effort dubbed “A Billion Acts of Green”, organisers encouraged people to support Earth Day 2011 by pledging online – at act.earthday.org/ – to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve the planet’s health. This could be from switching to energy saving light bulbs to reducing the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals.
“Millions of people doing small, individual acts can add up to real change,” said Chad Chitwood, a spokesman for the umbrella group which is co-ordinating efforts.
Hundreds of rallies, workshops and other events took place across the United States, where Earth Day was born, and hundreds more overseas, where it is now celebrated in 192 countries.
In the US, the activities ranged from the premiere of a new film called Revenge of the Electric Car, which will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
Events included a discussion on creating a green economy in 12 cities along the Gulf Coast, where this time last year, residents were reeling from the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The bipartisanship that marked the 1970 birth of Earth Day – it was sponsored in Congress by a Wisconsin Democrat named Gaylord Nelson and a California Republican named Pete McCloskey – is often missing in environmental policy debates today.
Efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, for instance, face fierce resistance from many Republicans and members of the business community. – (Reuters)