Earth Day was founded in 1970 to get the public aware of environmental concerns. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the date, we’ve gathered 15 facts about Earth Day you might not have known.
1. Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Neslon, a Wisconsin Senator.
2. Earth Day originated in the US, and wasn’t celebrated internationally until 1990.
3. Earth Day’s international status owes its thanks to Denis Hayes, who is the national organizer of Earth Day events in the U.S. In 1990, he coordinated similar Earth Day events in 141 countries with more than 200 million people taking part
4. The EPA was created after the first Earth Day brought environmental concerns to the national spotlight.
5. Earth Day’s date, April 22, was chosen to allow students to be involved while in school.
6. Twenty million Americans, or about 10 percent of the country’s population at the time, participated in events and demonstrations on the first Earth Day.
7. Senator Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his involvement with the creation of Earth Day in 1995.
8. Also in 2009, NASA celebrated Earth Day by planting a “Moon Tree” from seeds that had been on the Apollo 14 mission.
9. The Earth Day Anthem was written in 2013 by Indian poet Abhay Kumar, and has since been recorded in many different languages.
10. On Earth Day 2012, more than 100,000 people rode bikes in China to reduce CO2 emissions and save fuel.
11. In 2009, the UN officially adopted Earth Day as International Mother Earth Day.
12. Internationally, around 1 Billion people take part in Earth Day activities.