It is the 45th anniversary of Earth Day celebrations this year, and, in my opinion, this could be one of the best.  Earth Day is the worldwide celebration, on April 22, of environmental protections efforts.  Moved by the massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969, Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, at the time a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, realized that he could infuse the new public awareness of environmental impacts onto the national political agenda. In 1990 Denis Hayes, national coordinator, pushed the movement globally.

This blog post highlights events going on this year and past events in communities throughout the U.S.

 ICMA Earth Day Resources

2015 Earth Day Events

  • Keep America Beautiful (KAB), the nation’s leading nonprofit that builds and sustains clean, green, and beautiful communities has a plethora of activities going on nationwide:
  • In the City of El Cerrito, California, residents celebrate Earth Day by having volunteers from their community participate in environmental projects and work with partners all over the city.  For appreciation of their efforts the local government hosts a lunch at the community center.
  • The town of Patagonia, Arizona, hosts an all-day event with such activities as a community-wide cleanup of household hazardous waste and a program of speakers covering topics like water conservation to help limit the impact of the community’s diminishing water supply.
  • In the community of Riverside, California there will be an Earth Night in the Garden event to celebrate water efficiency and the environment, with activities such as ladybug releases!

How are you (or your community) celebrating Earth Day 2015? Please post your stories below.

Douglas Shontz

Knowledge Network Intern

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