Earth Day is an annual event that is observed on April 22. Across the globe, various events are carried out to show support for safeguarding our environment and ecological protection. It was first celebrated in 1970 and from then onwards Earth Day programmes and events are conducted in nearly 190 countries which are globally coordinated by the Earth Day Network. The Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970. He was disturbed that an issue as important as our environment was not addressed in politics or by the media. And therefore he created the first Earth Day, on April 22, 1970. More than 20 million people across the United States of America attended various activities on that particular day. About 48 years ago, on 22 April, 1970, millions of people took to the streets to protest the negative impacts of the industrial development that began 150 ago. In the United States and elsewhere around the world, smog was becoming a critical issue and it was becoming clearly evident that pollution was leading to various kinds of developmental complications among children and women. Loss of biological diversity and shrinking habitats had picked up pace than before.
As a result there was rampant degradation in ecosystem and its unique services mostly due to heavy use of pesticides and other chemicals. Today, Earth Day is a global event every year, and we believe that more than one billion people across 190 countries take part in what is one of the largest community focused day of action in the world. It is also a day of great political action and civic participation. People in different parts of the world march with effective messages, sign common petitions, meet with their elected representatives, take up tree planting, clean up their roads, layouts, complexes, etc., Various governments and other concerned organizations and authorities use this opportunity to take pledges and also initiate future sustainable development measures. Even religious leaders have now begun to connect Earth Day with protecting God's greatest creations and the planet that we all live on. The Earth Day Network, the organization that leads Earth Day worldwide, has announced that Earth Day - 2018
will focus on bringing an end Plastic Pollution, including creating support for a global effort to eliminate single-use plastics along with global regulation for the disposal of plastics.
It will also educate millions of people about the health and other risks associated with the use and disposal of plastics, including pollution of our marine ecosystems, freshwater systems, wildlife, our biodiversity and about the growing fact that plastics are creating serious global ecological problems. Plastics have invaded our lives so much that it has become difficult to live without it. It has not only poisoned and destroyed the marine life but its ubiquitous presence of plastics in our food has been disrupting human hormones and causing major life-threatening diseases among humans. The exponential growth of plastics and the possibility of continuing this trend are threatening our planet's own survival. Several campaigns to stop or end plastic pollution have been designed and implemented across the world. However the key goals of this campaign includes banning of single-use plastics, promoting and popularizing alternatives to fossil fuels, promoting complete recycling of plastics, corporate and government accountability and changing human behavior concerning plastics and its usage in everyday life. Major cities in India lack this framework and hence pay huge prices due to plastic pollution and its adverse impacts.
