Earth Day falls on April 22

Earth Day - April 22 - each year marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, the birth of Mariah Carey, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina - an incident not acknowledged for 18 years.

 It was into such a world that the very first Earth Day was born.Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda.” "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."

Earth Day 2009, April 22, will mark the beginning of The Green Generation Campaign, which will also be the focus of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2010.With negotiations for a new global climate agreement coming up in December, Earth Day 2009 must be a day of action and civic participation, to defend The Green Generation’s core principles:

•           A carbon-free future based on renewable energy that will end our common dependency on fossil fuels, including coal.

•           An individual’s commitment to responsible, sustainable consumption.

•           Creation of a new green economy that lifts people out of poverty by creating millions of quality green jobs and transforms the global education system into a green one.