The first major celebration was held on 22nd April 1970 by more than 20 million United States of America citizens. The day marks a global appeal for international cooperation to address environment problems such as ozone layer depletion, toxic wastes, green house effect, shrinking forests, ground water contamination and expanding deserts. The day is guided by a philosophy ‘Think global , act locally’. The day provides an opportunity for individuals or organizations to be more involved in developing local projects that fit well with the global concerns. The motivation is to make the earth a better planet to live on.
The theme for Earth Day 2014 is “Green cities”. Over the years, there has been an increased migration of population to urban areas. Global projections depict that this trend will continue. These people need to be catered for in terms of provision of energy, food, water, sanitation and other amenities. With the challenge of climate change, other urban challenges such as flooding, diseases are becoming a reality. Hence the Earth Day theme tasks us to think of ways to build sustainable cities. The three pillars of sustainable development i.e. economic. social and environmental aspects have to be proactively considered.
Suggested activities
- Initiate activities such as cleaning the environment, waste recycling , removing invasive species of plants from the farms and wetlands.
- Start a project to make people appreciate the beauty of the environment such as bird watching, tree planting, wildlife club environment club etc
- Visit places such as the museum, national park, arboretum, botanic garden or local natural site and observe how organism (plants and animals) interact with each other. Discuss what you see with your friends.
- Identify local activities that impact negatively on the environment. Discuss how the problems came into existence and why they continue to exist. Implement activities to conserve the local environment
- Initiate projects that address the use of clean energy, energy saving cookstoves (jikos), solar energy, energy from solid wastes etc.
- Write an essay or summary notes on how you celebrated the earth day. Publicize your success on this blog.
For further information, please contact
Earth Day: http://www.earthday.org/greencities/earth-day-2014/
Ministry of Environment, Water & Natural Resources – Kenya
