Earth Day Network Blog Updates

Have you ever heard the Chinese proverb, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is right now”?

In 2011, Earth Day will be used as a platform to educate the world about the important environmental issues facing our planet.  From global climate change to deforestation, environmental awareness is the central focus on April 22 in over 125 countries.

It is not the leaders of today who will most feel the effects of environmental degradation and unsustainable energy and resource consumption.  It is the world’s youth and children.  As the United Nations notes, at 20% of the world population, youth and children are key to creating a sustainable future.  Earth Day, which is celebrated by over 1 billion people in 190 countries, was started by youth. The first Earth Day in 1970 saw 20 million secondary school and university students stage grassroots teach-ins to emphasize the need for a change in U.S.

At Powershift 2011 in Washington, D.C., Earth Day Network hosted a dynamic afternoon panel discussion on women’s leadership in the green economy, featuring emerging women leaders from Solar Sister, the 

Last night, 1,000 concerned citizens of all ages came together at the entrance of theGenOn Potomac River Coal Plant in Alexandria, VA to demand its resignation. Environmentalists like Bill McKibben and Mike Tidwell joined hands with poets like E. Ethelbert Miller and Common Cause’s President Rev. Bob Edgar in a full moon, nighttime vigil at the plant’s heavily guarded entrance.  

Nothing warms the heart like listening to elementary school kids chanting “Go green! Go green!” while waiting in line to look at… stamps?  At Thurgood Marshall Academy Thursday morning, students from TMA as well as Savoy Elementary School got excited about the new line of stamps that USPS revealed – and that doesn’t happen often.

Looking for something to do with kids this Earth Day?  Check out Pennies for the Planet -- a powerful tool for motivating kids of all ages to learn about and become engaged in protecting biodiversity.  Our friends at the National Audubon Society, where EDN Education Director Sean Miller was once a Conservation Leadership Fellow with their TogetherGreen program, are running this incredibly ex

The weather may still be changing but, believe it or not, Earth Day is just around the corner!  On April 22, people all over the world will join together to celebrate our planet; don’t miss out on the celebrations!  Many schools are not in session because Earth Day falls on Good Friday BUT there is still plenty of time to plan for your own Earth Day to get your students (and you!) excited about Earth Day (even if you don’t do it on the actual day).

Here are some ideas:

Grassroots environmental heroes too often go unrecognized.

In the 21st century, we still appreciate and commemorate the tremendous strides our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers made during the women’s suffrage movement.  However, we forget that work remains to be done to truly achieve an equal society and sustainable future for all.  Women are still under-represented in executive boards, political legislatures, and other decision-making bodies. Yet, we need women’s collaborative approach to problem-solving, and their creativity and leadership to grow a post-carbon economy.