Today is the 45th anniversary of Earth Day, a holiday that began in 1970 as a response to a massive 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, assembled a national staff of 85 people, to promote these events around the United States. While at first, Earth Day was an unofficial holiday only celebrated in the U.S., within twenty years, this day of environmental appreciation spread to 141 countries around the world.
Today, Earth Day is a more important holiday than ever before, as we face the devastating effects of climate change. With each passing month, the global climate is heating up, with this past winter being the warmest since temperature records were kept. The time for taking action to preserve our environment and save humanity is right now, and if the opinion of a vast majority of scientists is any indication, we are running out of time.
While this issue is very serious, requiring massive policy changes and probably a new economic structure, let's focus on more light-hearted snapshots of how people are celebrating Earth Day around New York City: