Because Kathy Stemke is an author who has written about Earth Day for Children, I asked her to share with my New Book Review Readers. Her essay will be interesting to all. Her book will be the perfect gift for any child who is destined to grow up in this world. Keep scrolling for ways to celebrate Earth Day and ways to share with a child.
The History of Earth Day
The height of hippie and flower-child culture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Protest was the order of the day, but saving the planet was not the cause. War raged in Vietnam, and students nationwide increasingly opposed it.
At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity.
The idea of Earth Day came to the founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California.
Senator Gaylord Nelson said, “At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air - and they did so with spectacular exuberance.”
As a result, on the 22nd of April, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.
Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.
In time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1995) -- the highest honor given to civilians in the United States -- for his role as Earth Day founder.
With Earth Day Approaching on April 22nd it's time to focus on educating our children about conservation. Troubleon Earth Day would be a great resource for this purpose and a super addition to any school or home library.
Learning how each of us can take steps to protect our environment is important for children and adults alike. It will take all our efforts to help improve the environment for a healthier tomorrow. Trouble on Earth Day is a great start for children.
Here’s an excerpt from the resource section
of Trouble on Earth Day:
A-Z Let’s Go Green
Arrange a wildlife refuge in your backyard with a birdbath, nest building project, bird feeder, and plants that attract birds and other animals.
Bicycle instead of using a car.
Create posters about caring for the earth.
Don’t leave water running when brushing your teeth or bathing.
Eat organic foods.
Feed the birds.
Grow a flower or vegetable garden.
Hold on to your helium balloons that can hurt animals when they fall to the ground.
Insulate near doors and windows.
Join with your friends to clean up the neighborhood.
Keep stuff in a box until you can reuse it.
Light your home with compact fluorescent bulbs.
Make scratchpads with old paper.
Nurture the soil with coffee grinds, eggshells and other compost.
Omit aerosols because they damage the ozone layer.
Plant a tree.
Quit wasting food.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Stop throwing out old toys. Donate them instead.
Turn off the lights.
Use paper on both sides.
Visit a recycling center to see all the things that can be recycled.
Write a letter to the newspaper encouraging your neighbors to recycle.
eXercise your body while collecting tin cans.
Yell, “I love the Earth!”
Zero in on helping the earth!
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