When Earth Day comes around, you may be asking yourself: “What is Earth Day? Why do we have it?” The simple answer would be to save our planet, to spread awareness about how the things we do daily can harm our home. Now it’s especially important to have something such as Earth Day; but how did it come about? 

Earth Day first came to be after a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, Calif., in Jan. 1969 caught Senator Gaylord Nelson’s attention. Nelson joined activist Denis Hayes to create a national Earth Day in America in which 20 million citizens participated. All sorts of wildlife and Earth preservation organizations came together on that day for the sole purpose of saving the earth and in doing so made history. After that day, the United States Environmental Protection Agency was formed and many environmental laws were passed, like the National Environmental Education Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act to name a few. While this all sounds fine and dandy, this day was only recognized in America and would stay that way for two decades. 

Earth Day went global in 1990 when a cluster of environmental activists approached Hayes to create another Earth Day campaign, and 200 million people in 141 countries supported it. The Rio de Janeiro United Nations Earth Summit occurred two years later in 1992. 

The theme for this year’s Earth Day is “Invest in Our Planet,” encouraging businesses, governments, and individuals to “go green” and be more ethical in the way they go about their business. EarthDay.org provides 52 Ways To Invest In Our Planet year-round, some of the easier ones being picking up trash, reducing use of paper, using reusable bags, and using glass products instead of plastic.