April 22 is International Earth Day. Earth Day: Incredible Earth Facts. What to give for Earth Day

27.09.2019

A wonderful planet, the only one in our entire galaxy filled with life. Thanks to her, people can wake up and smile at the sun. Enjoy the singing of birds, the scents of flowers, and most importantly, life.

Who created this beauty, God or a combination of special natural circumstances, is not known for certain. Admiring its uniqueness and originality, the evolutionist Darwin himself believed in God, saying: "Everything on this earth is so regular and correct that all this directly points to its Creator."

One thing is certain for sure: the Earth is a home for all living beings, including humans. And Earth Day 2018 encourages us to reflect on this.

When will the whole world meet a wonderful holiday in 2018?

In fact, there are several such days. The first Earth Day is celebrated on the day of the spring equinox, which will come to us on March 20, and the second on April 22. The first is aimed at drawing attention to the need for peace on the entire planet, against wars, destruction and annihilation of the living. And the second has an ecological background and is aimed at preserving nature and the environment as a whole.

In addition to these dates, all peoples have their own holidays dedicated to the Earth. For example, the Slavs on the Day of the Holy Spirit, which falls immediately after the Trinity, also celebrated the birthday of Mother Earth. And before the advent of Orthodoxy, the Slavs celebrated Earth Day on May 22.

Earth Day March 20

In 1840, the public American activist John Morton on the day of the vernal equinox gathered like-minded people, with whom he planted a huge number of trees and other plants.

After 32 years, he joined the leadership of the state of Nebraska and continued his activities, urging people to a humane and respectful attitude towards nature. And also the day on which he and his company planted trees, he proposed to call Tree Day and called on all the inhabitants of the United States to continue his undertakings.

People responded to his call, and a new tradition appeared, a kind of holiday, when everyone, in unison, cheerfully, with songs and conversations, planted greenery in their cities and states, and then held festive dinners, with concerts, dances, etc.

Seeing the popularity of such a holiday in America, in 1971 the United Nations decided to make it worldwide and call it Earth Day. Moreover, on the day of the spring equinox, when the earth is reborn and begins a new round, this is very symbolic.

Over time, this day has acquired many traditions. In addition to the fact that organizations, students, schoolchildren and social activists are engaged in planting greenery in their cities, a custom has appeared on this day to ring the Peace Bell.

It was cast in memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which suffered from nuclear explosions. The bell is designed to remind all the people of the Earth about the tragedy that has happened and never again allow such destruction and victims.

Later, such Peace Bells appeared in many cities of different countries, and on World Earth Day they begin to ring. But not only to remind about terrible explosions, but also to encourage people to pay attention to the magnificent planet on which they live. To give birth in them to the desire to create, to make her and themselves better, more merciful, and to protect what the Earth has already given them - life.

Earth Day even has its own flag, the emblem on which our planet flaunts, captured from space.

Earth Day - April 22

The history of this event originates from the first recognized holiday of the Earth. In 1970, US politician Gaylord Nelson initiated the creation of a student environmental movement. It was supposed to be a one-time action when Harvard students parade with posters calling for nature conservation.

But the event was a great success, and every year its popularity grew, reaching incredible proportions, when more than 20 million people organized environmental demonstrations in one day. In the end, Nelson noted that he only started, and Earth Day created itself.

The main objective of the action was to draw people's attention to the fact that by destroying the environment, they are destroying themselves. As a result of technological progress, the increasing anthropological pressure has a detrimental effect on everything: on the climate; on living beings that die out or fall into the Red Book; in air and water, which are oversaturated with harmful elements as a result of human activity.

As a result of this massively unfolding program, many laws were passed in America to preserve the environment, and in 2009 the United Nations officially decided to consider April 22 as Earth Day.

On this day, parades and demonstrations are held all over the world calling for the protection of nature. Various environmental events are also held. Schoolchildren draw pictures on environmental topics with crayons on the pavement.

Concerts are held where singers and poets, with their creativity, also make people's consciousness wake up and recognize themselves as one with nature, get rid of the consumer attitude towards it. And also, as on the first Earth Day, the Bells of Peace are ringing.

Earth Hour

Holidays like Earth Day have inspired other organizations dedicated to protecting our world. Thus, the World Wildlife Fund launched the Earth Hour project, inviting all people on the planet, both privately and for companies, to cut off electricity for one hour.

The event, like Earth Day, quickly became popular. And although electricians claim that this makes no sense, such projects are necessary for people, if only in order to once again realize the consequences of their activities and give the Earth at least a fraction of what it gives us. We clean our house every day, so our common House should always be remembered as well. If people consciously begin to relate to the Earth, it will return a hundredfold.

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On April 22, the world celebrates a global holiday held under the auspices of the UN - International Mother Earth Day.

International Mother Earth Day has been celebrated annually on April 22 since 2010. Established by the UN General Assembly in 2009 (resolution No. A/RES/63/278). More than 50 UN member states acted as co-sponsors of the resolution.

The document says that the term "Mother Earth" is generally accepted in many countries and reflects the relationship between the planet, its ecosystems and humans. Inviting all UN member states, international and non-governmental organizations to celebrate "International Mother Earth Day", the General Assembly emphasized that Earth Day is already celebrated annually in many countries.

According to some reports, this International Day arose on the basis of the Day of Trees celebrated earlier in the United States.

The tradition of celebrating Earth Day on April 22 originated in the United States in 1970, and in 1990 this day became an international event.

The holiday has been celebrated in Russia since 1992. Moreover, every year this Day is dedicated to a specific theme.

In the northern hemisphere, Earth Day is celebrated in the spring, and in the southern hemisphere in the fall. The main goal of this global action is to attract the attention of society and every person on the planet to the problems of the Earth, to the problems of its environment.

It is known that age of planet earth is approximately 4.5 billion years. If you try to go around the Earth, walking along the equator, you have to make a path almost 40,010 kilometers long.

Distance from the surface to the center of the earth equals 6378 kilometers. Solid rocks (the lithosphere) form a layer of only about 70 kilometers, and, moving further inland, we observe semi-liquid and liquid states.

The hottest place on earth- Death Valley in California and a place in Libya called El Azizia. El Azizia's record is 57.8 degrees Celsius (September 13, 1922), the Death Valley record is 55.8 degrees Celsius (July 10, 1913).

The coldest place on earth- Antarctica. There, on July 21, 1983, -89 degrees Celsius was recorded at the Vostok research station in Antarctica.

The earth is incredibly rich in minerals - scientists have already classified about 4,000 types of minerals, about 200 of them are of practical importance. Every year, 50-100 types of minerals are discovered.

The Earth has one natural satellite - the Moon visible to the naked eye.

Mother Earth Day on April 22, as well as Earth Day, held on the Day of the Spring Equinox, gives every inhabitant in all populated corners of the planet the opportunity to express gratitude to our big common home.

Every year, scientists from around the world gather on this day at a round table to discuss global environmental problems. A wide variety of events and promotions are organized in different countries. These are conferences, exhibitions, the closure of traffic on the busy streets of large cities, cleaning the territory and planting trees.

In Russia, International Earth Day is traditionally considered the day of public organizations that hold various environmental events and actions on this day.

On this day, everyone can take part in the improvement and gardening of their yards and streets.

“The blue ball is spinning, spinning ...” This song once sounded in a film trilogy about Maxim, a young worker, illustrating his attitude to human existence. But don't you think that the first line of the chorus of the composition, with which, in fact, this article begins, draws a colorful image of our planet? After all, the globe is really full of seas-oceans and, without stopping for a second, makes its endless route along an orbit laid by someone in the interstellar darkness ... Planet Earth is our home, our mother, so once a year on April 22 we celebrate International Day Earth, dedicated to the refuge of the human people in the vast depths of the universe.

History of the International Earth Day

April 22 International Earth Day is a truly large-scale event. True, he is only three years old, although the prerequisites for the appearance of the holiday arose in the 19th century. A certain John Morton, following the example of numerous Irish and British, settled in the Wild West of the North American continent. The colonists mastered the land and for the purpose of construction mercilessly destroyed the already rare vegetation. John was not happy with the prospect of living among the rocks and sand, so he put forward the idea of devoting one day a year to planting new trees and shrubs. Thus, Tree Day was born. The permanent date of the celebration is April 22, which, by the way, was chosen in connection with the birthday of John Morton, and the status of an official celebration was assigned to him in 1882. But all this only applied to the inhabitants of Nebraska, where Tree Day originated.

It was only in 1970 that it was decided to make the International Earth Day a national holiday, after trial themed events dedicated to the solemn date met with the support of the North American people. A year later, International Earth Day "expanded" to a whole Week, which also became a habit.

The action became international after 19 years, but it acquired an official character even later - in 2009, at the initiative of the UN at the 63rd session of the General Assembly. As part of the meeting, President Miguel d'Escoto Brockman made a speech full of patriotism. He announced that the establishment of such a bright holiday is a kind of recognition by the population of the globe of the importance of the planet's gratuitous giving of all kinds of benefits to humanity.

The holiday on April 22, International Earth Day sets a single goal for the world community: to take care of their global home and its original inhabitants - representatives of flora and fauna. Unfortunately, this installation exists only in theory, but in practice there is no limit to environmental pollution, deforestation, and the extermination of animals. What can we talk about if, according to official data for the last year, the amount of emissions into the atmosphere exceeded 30 billion tons, the Red Book is regularly updated with the names of endangered species of plants and animals, and we are killing each other hourly? The planet is in revolt, looking at human hypocrisy, generously “giving” its disobedient children various kinds of cataclysms of monstrous power, weather that does not correspond to the season and genetic mutations. So far, everything is in vain - people are inexorably approaching the fatal line ...

Symbolism and traditions of the holiday

The planet Earth has its own flag, which is an ordinary space image of a blue ball against the background of the vast expanse of the Universe in dark blue, almost purple. The authors of the photo are members of the crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, the moment the frame was captured is the path to the natural satellite of the Moon. The flag is used not only as an emblem of the planet - under its auspices, various events are held at different times in the direction of protecting the environment, with a peacekeeping purpose. Directly, the International Day of the Earth was provided with an original symbol. This is the green letter of the Greek alphabet "theta" in the form of a vertical ellipse with a horizontal bar inside. The symbol flaunts on a snow-white background. The letter itself coincides in numerical value with the number 9, personifying an unshakable connection with the cosmos, and therefore spirituality.

There is a wonderful tradition - on the holiday of April 22, International Earth Day, to beat the Peace Bell. This action is performed in order to allow (or force?) Everyone to feel the need to unite efforts aimed at creating the beauty and health of the planet, and not destruction. Another goal is to remind the earthly population of a simple truth: “all people are brothers”, and not wolves, as most of us are accustomed to believe in recent times.

The initiators of the unusual tradition were the Americans. In the middle of the 20th century, the first such bell appeared at the UN headquarters, located in New York. The basis for its creation was coins from all over the world, given by children in the name of the solidarity of peoples and just people of the planet, as well as insignia of residents of different countries. The New York Peace Bell is adorned with the inscription: "Long live universal peace throughout the world!". The same was done in other countries. Among the states that support the main tradition on Earth Day, we can single out Canada, Australia, Japan, Ecuador, of course, Russia, and many others. Our Bell of Peace is installed in Moscow, the action itself is controlled by the International League for the Protection of Culture, the Russian Federation of Cosmonautics, the International Center-Museum named after N.K. Roerich and other organizations.

The Amazing Geography of the Earth

There are many places on planet Earth that are a tourist's dream. There are some that are a real mystery of nature. It is unlikely that most of you will be able to visit at least a hundredth of all this diversity in your life. So why don't we get to know some noteworthy landscapes?

Born romantics would surely rest their souls on the picturesque islands that our planet has. In the Arabian Sea there is the Socotra archipelago, which can only be reached by helicopter - it is so inaccessible. The climate of the islands is surprisingly warm, which creates excellent conditions for the growth of all kinds of greenery. The island of Newfoundland, in Canada, is quite interesting in itself. But there is a unique creation of nature on its territory, caressing the eye - the marine arch of Berry Head.

Those who are fond of history would certainly like the ancient cities of civilizations that have sunk into the past, which have survived to this day. Such is Petra in Jordan - the work of the Arab tribe, Machu Picchu, left to us as a legacy of the Incas in Peru. True travelers would be wildly delighted to visit the Mexican crystal cave called Nike, literally overgrown with selenite crystals of various lengths, the Marble Caves of Chile Chico, located respectively in Chile.

Let's take care of Mother Earth, stop regularly returning evil for good. Our children are forced to grow up in an insanely polluted environment, breathe harmful gases, drink poisoned water. Is such a future dreamed of humanity in its time? The holiday of April 22, International Earth Day, is a suitable occasion to think about the future fate of the entire earthly world, so that in a few centuries you will not have to bitterly regret your own frivolity ...

We sincerely congratulate all the inhabitants of our country on the occasion of April 22, International Earth Day.

Around the world, at the initiative of the UN, is celebrated Earth Day. Moreover, in the calendar of international holidays there are two Earth Days - today is celebrated on, and the second -. The first has a peacemaking and humanistic orientation, the second - environmental.

The date of March 20 was chosen and officially approved in 1971 by the UN for Earth Day precisely because the day of the vernal equinox falls at this time, when the biological rhythm of the planet changes, and it moves to a new round of its development, when nature awakens and renews itself. The UN appeal says: "Earth Day is a special time that is intended to draw the attention of all people to the awareness of the planet Earth as their common home, to feel our all-terrestrial community and mutual dependence on each other."

The founder of this Day is the famous American public figure John Morton, who in the 1840s launched a campaign to plant trees and shrubs, as part of a program of respect for the environment of every citizen of the country. And when he became secretary of the Territory of Nebraska, in 1872 he proposed to establish a day that would be dedicated to landscaping. This is how the Day of the Tree appeared, which immediately became very popular.

During the first Day, the people of the state planted about a million trees, and soon their initiative grew into a social movement. Since 1970, the meaning of the holiday has expanded to the general idea of environmental protection, and a new name has appeared - Earth Day, which has become nationwide. In 1971, the UN officially adopted this holiday, and subsequently it became a worldwide holiday, gaining more and more international support every year.

Today Earth Day is a worldwide movement of civil initiatives to protect the planet as a common global Home, bringing together many different events and actions, both environmental and peacekeeping. This is not so much a holiday as an occasion to once again think about the problems of a fragile and vulnerable environment, the problems of the relationship between man and the outside world. In Russia, Earth Day is celebrated as part of the Days of Protection from Environmental Hazards.

Among the most popular events in the field of protecting and improving the environment, held on this day in different parts of our planet, are environmental exhibitions and festivals, marathons and conferences about nature, cleaning streets and territories in cities, planting trees and stopping car traffic on busy streets. streets of major cities, cultural events and concerts…

Peace Bell at UN Headquarters, New York

It is also worth noting that, according to the established tradition, every year within the framework of Earth Day in the vast majority of countries it is certainly customary to ring the Peace Bell for one minute, which is a symbol of peaceful life, friendship and solidarity of all peoples, and a call to action in the name of preserving culture and the best achievements of mankind. And the meaning of this ceremony is that during this minute, people think about how to save our beautiful planet, how to improve life on it, feel like residents and part of the Earth.

The first Peace Bell (Peace Bell) was cast in 1954 in memory of the tragedy of Japanese cities that survived the nuclear bombing, and was installed at the UN headquarters in New York. It is cast from coins collected by children from all continents, orders and medals, other honorary signs of people from many countries are also fused into it. The inscription on the Bell reads: "Long live universal peace throughout the world." Then similar bells began to be installed in other countries - Japan (1954), Germany, Poland, Turkey (1989), Mexico (1990), Australia (1992), Mongolia (1993), Canada (1996), Brazil (1997), Argentina (1998), Ecuador (1999), Uzbekistan (2003) and other countries. Russia joined the Peace Bell on Earth Day in 1998.

Earth Day also has its own flag with the image of one of the first photographs of our planet from space. This is a sign of awareness that only by joint efforts can global environmental and social problems be solved on Earth. Therefore, it is no coincidence that this holiday is actively supported by astronauts. After all, they were the first to tell the world about how beautiful and defenseless our planet is, and how it needs a careful attitude from all of us.

Lovely ball blue
Soars in the darkness of the universe.
A cozy home for you and me
The abode of unchanging life.

Deep seas and oceans
Desert sands, green forests,
And lava gushing volcanoes
Above them, the skies are blue.

We congratulate our beautiful planet!
Today is her holiday!
We will be able to save all this beauty,
Pass it on to posterity!

Other holidays and memorable dates March 20

French Language Day, like the days of other languages of the United Nations, is celebrated recently - only since 2010. The initiator of the introduction of the new holiday was the UN Department of Public Relations. …

In world practice, there are at least two holidays called Earth Day, and they are celebrated on March 20 and April 22. The difference between them, although barely noticeable, is there. The one that is celebrated on March 20 is peacekeeping and humanistic in nature. And Earth Day on April 22 is more of an environmental focus, and is designed to draw the attention of the planet's population to the need to protect and preserve the environment.

Earth Day was first approved in 1971 by the UN. The date, March 20, was not chosen by chance - this time falls on the day of the vernal equinox, when the planet moves to a new rhythm of life, blooms and renews itself. In the UN address, the following words are heard: "Earth Day is a time to draw people's attention to the awareness of planet Earth as their common home."

And although the holiday was established only half a century ago, its history is much older. The founder of Earth Day is considered to be the American John Morton, who in 1840 launched a tree planting campaign. And when, for his active citizenship, he was appointed Secretary of State of Nebraska, he decided to establish a special gardening holiday called Tree Day. This holiday became the ancestor of Earth Day.

Symbolism of Earth Day

The view of the globe from space against a dark blue background is considered an unspoken symbol of Earth Day. Interestingly, the photo of the Earth on the holiday flag was taken in 1972 by the astronauts of the Apollo 17 mission on their way to the Moon.

Another interesting attribute of Earth Day is the Peace Bell. In different countries, on March 20, according to the old tradition, they ring the bell, thus calling on the inhabitants of the planet to solidarity, peace and the preservation of the beauty of the Earth. The first Bell was cast in the middle of the last century in New York from coins collected by children from all over the world. It is engraved with the inscription: "Long live universal peace in the world." Similar bells have been installed in Germany, Australia, Canada and other countries.

Earth Day in Russia

In the Russian Federation, Earth Day has been celebrated since 1998 at the suggestion of cosmonaut and Hero of the Soviet Union Berezovy. The official opening of the first Earth Day in Moscow was attended by the son of the legendary academician Pyotr Kapitsa, the Soviet physicist Sergei Kapitsa. In his speech, he noted that Earth Day is a day of responsibility to the Earth and to nature, of which people are a part.

Meaning of Earth Day

Immersed in daily responsibilities and worries, in pursuit of financial well-being, we almost never think about what incredible wealth we have simply because we were lucky to be born on planet Earth. There are countless planets in the Universe, but it is reliably known that none of them has life in any form.

At the same time, in just 500 years, due to the consumer attitude of man to his native planet, 322 species of mammals, fish and birds were destroyed. Every year, due to industrial tree cutting, the planet loses 18.7 million acres of forests, or 27 football fields every minute. In the Amazon alone, 17 percent of the jungle has been irrevocably destroyed in the last 50 years.

The forest is the main source of vital oxygen on Earth. Deforestation leads not only to a regular decrease in the level of oxygen, but also to an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide. Studies show that human industrial activity has led to an unprecedented jump in carbon dioxide levels on Earth - the highest in half a million years. In fact, the Earth begins to "suffocate", and the sharp increase in the number of cancers, natural disasters and rising temperatures on the planet are an indicator of this.

If this trend continues, the Earth's atmosphere will not return to normal even after tens of thousands of years. And if an apocalypse happens on Earth, it will most likely be the work of man.