Introduction
Planet Earth has always served humankind as both a parent and a home. For most of its time, human civilization has lived in harmony with nature’s processes, rules, and laws. Human beings did painful and damaging things to the Earth’s ecosystem, but most of them were local, not global. For example, “the European Lion was hunted to extinction by humans … and disappeared off the face of the earth about 1,000 years ago” (Strauss, 2019, para. 2). The Industrial Revolution began the historical stage of the global negative impact of humanity on its parent and home, which led to such modern natural crises as marine pollution, ozone depletion, and climate change. Self-awareness came to people only 50 years with Earth Day as a date that reminds people of the world’s natural problems and their involvement.
Earth Day
It can be said with confidence that Earth Day is a cultural achievement of the United States (US). Wisconsin authorities, one senator specifically, decided to organize “a national demonstration about environmental issues” on April 22, 1970 (Davidson, n.d., para. 2). It caused a positive response in the US population, leading to pro-environmental rallies and even pro-environment policies from the government (Davidson, n.d.). Earth Day has been popularized gradually and globally in both societies and public authorities of different countries (Davidson, n.d.). This day reminds people to stop taking from nature and polluting it and start making restoration efforts.
Conclusion
Earth Day may gain even more recognition and significance than Christmas or Chinese New Year in the global population because of the date’s conceptual relation to current negative environmental processes. Among the activities by which one can contribute to the ecological movement on April 22 is picking up garbage in parks and nearby natural attractions. Reasonable and limited water use is another good practice that one can incorporate into their daily behavior to become more environmentally self-aware.
References
Strauss, B. (2019). European lion facts and figures. ThoughtCo. Web.
Davidson, R. (n.d.). History of Earth Day. National Geographic Kids. Web.