Reduce, reuse and recycle

by Husna Inayathullah

Earth Day is annually celebrated on April 22. Over one billion people in 192 countries take action to protect the planet. On this day many events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. They organise demonstrations, contact their elected officials, plant trees, clean up their communities and demand renewable energy targets. It was first celebrated in 1970 and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network. This year's theme was "Green Cities."

Earth Day creates an awareness to save the earth, especially in times of global warming. We celebrate Earth Day to remind ourselves to conserve natural resources for future use. Earth supports life, and we should be happy about it. Earth Day is important because it teaches us to "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!" If we do not take care of the earth, it would not exist!

Earth Day is a day to help the earth and keep it safe and clean. Just like any other holiday we do things to celebrate them. Earth day is the day you show how much you appreciate mother Earth by "Going Green" that includes: recycling, reusing, reducing the uses of some things such as electricity. It is important that we observe Earth Day because on that day people take extra care of the earth. It also creates awareness in our community about caring for the earth.

At a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco held in 1969 peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honour the earth and the concept of peace. It was first celebrated on March 21, 1970 in the northern hemisphere.

It was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U. Thant at the United Nations. A month later a separate Earth Day was founded by The United States Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970. Nelson was later presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in recognition of his work. While the April 22 Earth Day was focused on the United States, an organisation launched by Denis Hayes. He was the original national coordinator in 1970 who organised international events in 141 nations in 1990.

To commemorate the International Earth Day which fell in April, Michelle Sisson, U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka met Sri Lankan Girl Guides as they launched their "Earth Day Ambassadors" program. Sixty girls from Girl Guides chapters in Jaffna, Kandy and Colombo were selected to be "Earth Day Ambassadors". Participants researched and scored their respective city's environmental 'green' ranking, and will now collectively build an action plan to improve their city's rating.

The program will track the performance of the 60 "Earth Day Ambassadors" over the next year as they recommend areas for environmental protection in their communities and carry out action plans. Earth Day Ambassadors in Jaffna, Kandy and Colombo will hold quarterly check-ins and will hold an annual review on Earth Day in 2015.