Earth Day 2012: Join the Movement

by the JCC staff

The movement known as Earth Day began in 1970, during a time when mainstream America was, for lack of a better term, oblivious to environmental concerns.

Or, as EarthDay.org says, “’Environment’ was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.” 

But on April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans started the fight for a healthy, sustainable environment.

Earth Day 1970 aligned people of all political, social and cultural backgrounds and led to the creation of the EPA and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. 

That’s a lot to come out of just one day. But that wasn’t the end of it:

• In 1990, Earth Day went global. 200 million people in 141 countries gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide.
  
• Earth Day 2000 included participation from 5,000 environmental groups in 184 countries, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people and demanding action from world leaders on clean energy. 
• And for its 40th anniversary, Earth Day 2010 accumulated 40 million environmental service actions; launched a global 1-million tree planting initiative with director James Cameron; and tripled its online base to over 900,000 members.

So what will come of Earth Day 2012? 

We're hoping for even bigger results - but you better believe we won't be sitting back, just waiting for the report.

And we hope you won't, either.

Become part of the solution by joining your community’s Earth Day celebration this weekend – like our celebration at JCC Indianapolis.

Join us Sunday, Apr. 22 at the Arthur M. Glick JCC (6701 Hoover Rd., Indianapolis) to build your own mini greenhouse, create a bird feeder from recycled materials, plant a tree, make paper and other crafts from found objects, and start a garden from scratch, among other activities. The event is free and open to the public from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; tree planting with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful begins at 10 am. The event also includes an exhibit with Purdue Solar Racing team’s award-winning, street-legal solar car; live music; and food for sale from a variety of Indy’s favorite food trucks.

Visit our website for more information about the JCC Indianapolis’ inaugural Earth Day event. And whatever you do, make sure you're part of those awe-inspiring statistics this Earth Day.