EARTH DAY 2022 AT MAYER TREE SERVICE
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” — Native American Proverb.
Earth Day is one of our favorite days at Mayer Tree Service. Earth Day is an annual event created to celebrate the beauty and wonder of our planet and its environment while raising awareness of conservation and anti-pollution efforts. Earth is marked every year on April 22 and is observed worldwide with service projects, rallies, conferences, activities, and events.
Earth Day is a beautiful time to reflect on how the Earth impacts your life and, conversely, how your life can impact the Earth… both positively and negatively.
On Earth Day, the team at Mayer Tree Service likes to reflect on our mission to take care of trees, plants, and shrubs around the North Shore and Southern New Hampshire in environmentally friendly and responsible ways. Every year Mayer Tree Service spends countless hours and dollars to ensure that we deliver the best possible service to our customers while having the most negligible impact on the land around them and the Earth.
On this day, we show gratitude to our beautiful customers for trusting us to protect and beautify their property and to Mother Nature for giving us this gorgeous area in which to live.
THE HISTORY OF EARTH DAY
Earth Day began as a grassroots movement in opposition to pollution worldwide. The first Earth Day was observed in 1970. Today over 190 countries celebrate Earth Day, and over 1 Billion people have participated in Earth Day activities.
In the decades before the first Earth Day, a concerning environmental problem emerged around leaded gas and large energy-inefficient vehicles. There were few ecological regulations around air quality, and air pollution like smog was an accepted part of progress.
In the 1960s, however, concerns began to be raised about the effect of pollution on the environment and human beings. Rachel Carson’s best-selling book, Silent Spring, released in 1962, is often credited with beginning the modern environmental movement by bringing awareness to the effects of pollution on living organisms.
For more on the history of Earth Day, click here.
THE FIRST EARTH DAY
SENATOR GAYLORD NELSON HAD AN IDEA
In 1969, a massive oil spill occurred in Santa Barbara, California. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin saw the effect of the fall on the environment. Inspired by other protest movements, Nelson decided to use that energy to raise awareness of air and water pollution.
Nelson teamed with Pete McCloskey to begin a series of “teach-ins” on college campuses. They recruited a young activist named Denis Hayes to help with the organization and chose April 22 since it fell between Spring Break and Final Exams.
The first Earth Day was born!
20 MILLION PARTICIPATED
The first Earth Day received a great deal of attention, and due to the efforts of Nelson, McCloskey, and Hayes, over 20 Million Americans, over 10% of the country’s total population at the time, took to the streets, parks, auditoriums, and other spaces to protest the lack of regulation on industry and the adverse effects pollution was having on the health of Americans.
Earth Day achieved a rare political alignment in 1970. It was an accurate bipartisan movement supported by Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, urban and rural, farmers and city, and business and workers.
By the end of 1970, the creation of Earth Day had led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the first environmental protection laws of their kind, including the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later, Congress passed the Clean Water Act. A year after that, Congress passed the Endangered Species Act and, soon after, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.
Today, we take these safety regulations for granted, but only 52 years ago, they came into existence. Since their passage, they have protected countless men, women, and children from conditions and diseases caused by air and water pollution.
EARTH DAY GOES GLOBAL
In 1990, Earth Day had become a staple of the American calendar, but around the world, conditions were different. Many countries still lacked Americans' basic environmental protections in the early 1970s.
A group of environment leaders approached Denis Hayes and asked for his help. They wanted to take Earth Day worldwide and asked him to help organize their efforts.
Earth Day finally went global after 20 years, and over 141 countries participated, and over 200 million people joined the cause of lifting environmental issues to the world stage.
EARTH DAY AND Y2K
Denis Hayes was again recruited for another Earth Day campaign as the new millennium approached. This time the goal was focused on global warming and clean energy.
Earth Day 2000 leveraged the internet to bring together and organize activists from around the planet. Over 5,000 groups in 184 countries organized hundreds of millions of people to participate.
EARTH DAY 2010
As Earth Day 2010 approached, the focus shifted to creating an international environmental movement with Earthday.org at its center.
Facing the challenge of climate change, a robust fossil fuel industry, well-funded lobbyists, and a divided environmental community, the organizers of Earth Day looked to reestablish Earth Day as a day of massive action against pollution.
Earth Day 2010 engaged over 1 billion people for civic engagement and volunteerism in over 190 countries.
EARTH DAY TODAY
Today, Earth Day is recognized as the largest secular observance globally. Over a billion people participate in Earth Day activities and work to create global, national, and local policy changes.
WHAT CAN YOU DO THIS EARTH DAY?
Participating in Earth Day doesn’t mean protesting or attending a rally. Earth Day, at its core, is a day to celebrate the Earth and pay tribute to all it provides us.
Earth Day is a great day to give back to the Earth and appreciate it. Plant a tree, shrub, or bush on your property and cultivate it over the rest of the year and in the years to come. Look for a volunteer project in your area to clean and beautify a local park or nature area.
Or just take some time for yourself in nature. Work in your garden. Go for a walk in the park. Go hiking at one of the wonders trails in our area.
However you decided to celebrate Earth Day, let us know here at Mayer Tree Service. We’d love to hear about it.
If you’d like to learn more about the man who started Earth Day, Gaylord Nelson, check out this video.
