Happy Earth Day! This year is the 41st anniversary of the day celebrating and advocating for the environment.
Earth Day History
The idea for an environmental movement came from U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin. Disheartened by witnessing the effects of a 1969 California oil spill and inspired by the war-protest movement, Senator Nelson declared a “national teach-in on the environment.”
Twenty million Americans took to parks, streets and other public venues on April 22, 1970, to demonstrate for healthy, sustainable environmental practices. The movement united Americans of varying backgrounds, political persuasions and region. Here's an excerpt from a news broadcast from Earth Day 1970.
Soon after the April 22 demonstrations, the Environmental Protection Agency was formed and the Clean Air, Clean Water and the Endangered Species Acts were passed.
Each following year, Americans across the nation observed Earth Day in numerous ways and in 1990 the movement officially went global with more than 200 million people in 141 countries working to bring environmental issues to the forefront. Read a TIME magazine article from Earth Day 1990, and check out the TIME Earth Day archive.
The Earth Day movement continues to grow its efforts and spearheaded major initiatives in 2000 and 2010. Earth Day 2010 marked the kick-off of A Billion Acts of Green campaign, which runs through 2012.
Green Projects
At Smithsonian Student Travel, we try our best to to keep an "Earth Day Every Day" attitude. Here are some of our “Go Green!” Initiatives:
- All of our cleaning supplies are biodegradable and certified as "green" by the state of Massachusetts
- Our new energy-efficient air-conditioning system has helped reduce electricity usage by 60% and energy consumption by 50%
- We uses Grey Water Recycling, which filters sink and dish water to then use in the toilets
- We now recycle 70% of our total waste
- The hand dryers in the bathroom save an average of 200 trees per year
- By using compact fluorescent bulbs, we’ve cut down from 22,000 watts to 1,500 in some areas of the building
- In 2004, we averaged four palettes of paper per month--that's 6,000 pounds! Today we use only one palette per month, and hope to cut that number in half
- We’ve increased outside planting by 30%
- Our building has recycling centers for employees to recycle batteries, cell phones, iPods and more.
How have you greened your life?
Are you going anything special for Earth Day?
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