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“Earth Day 2009”

By: LeRoy French
Undersea Adventures
22 April 2009

Next week Wednesday the world celebrates “Earth Day”. For those of you that are not familiar with what earth day is let me give you a brief history of this important environmental day.

Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22nd. The concept originated in 1970 in the United States and is now recognized internationally. It is now observed in 175 countries and is coordinated by the nonprofit Earth Day Network. It is the largest secular holiday in the world and over a half billion join in every year. Many cities have extended the events for an entire week, usually starting on April 16, and ending on Earth Day, April 22.

This is a time for the community to get involved in some of the planets most important issues. This year towns and cities will showcase events, and school and youth programs engage citizens in weekend service efforts which are all designed to inform the public about our natural world. Earth Day 2007 was one of the largest events to date, with an estimated one billion people participating in activities in thousands of places like Kiev, Manila, Caracas, Madrid, London, New York to name a few.

The problems facing our planet today are of the utmost importance. Over the last 30 years the world has lost an area of forest nearly half the size of the United States. We have dumped literally billions of tons of chemicals, sewage and oil into our oceans. We have depleted 70% of the Earth’s commercial fish stock not to mention Global Warming. WOW!

However I will say that the general public has become more aware of our environment over the past 30 years but much more needs to be done. Global Warming is an enormous threat to our survival. Polar Bears in the Arctic to tropical reefs are being affected in devastating ways. This Earth Day, we all need to pledge to do more to get some of these issues on the top of the agenda for governments and companies around the world. Its up to all of us to take action and have our voices heard. Climate Chaos is already changing the world. We need to understand that within the lifetimes of children born today, it may challenge our survival as a species.

In all my past articles for this section I have brought to your attention many of these issues. Climate Change, Greenhouse Gases, Pollution, Overfishing, Ocean Dead Zones, Carbon Dioxide, Acid Rain, Overpopulation and so on. This is just a small portion of a list that continues to grow. Come out on Earth Day and help your planet . Its survival is in our hands!