22 April — Earth Day 2009
GLOBE's 15th Birthday!
Earth Day, 22 April 2009, is an opportunity for all of us to step outside to appreciate our beautiful planet, to engage in meaningful activity to improve our local environment, and to create a new vision for a more sustainable world. Millions of people all over the Earth participate in Earth Day to increase understanding of local environmental issues, to actively engage in benefitting the environment, and to commit to practicing sound environmental engagement throughout the year to come. Earth Day is not only an opportunity to reflect on the amazing beauty and complexity of our planet, it is also a call to action. Celebrating Earth Day helps focus attention on what we can do, on this day and every day, to nurture, care and protect the Earth as we would a dear friend.
This year the Earth Day Network (EDN), founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970 and active in 174 countries, will launch the Green Generation Campaign. The core principles of this campaign are to develop and expand the use of renewable energy, to enlist individual pledge to reducing energy consumption, and to create jobs through energy-efficient development. Visit the EDN Partner Pages to connect to environmental projects around the world. Visit the Green Generation Campaign Web page to find an Earth Day event near you.
Earth Day Ideas and Activities
Earth Day is a day dedicated to environmental activism and community participation. GLOBE has put together a list of ideas that are educational and compatible with this year's call to action:
Start a "Walking School Bus"! It's the bus powered by dozens of small feet, and its the greenest, healthiest way to get children to school. As the name "Walking School Bus" implies, it's a group of children walking together to school along a pre-arranged route with a timetable, collecting more and more children along the way. One adult at the front of the bus and one at the rear ensure that the group in between remains intact. In many communities where cars rule, it has become a wonderful alternative to the morning commute.
Pick up trash. This is an easy event that is good for the environment and educational too. Discuss the many ways in which trash harms the environment, how long certain material takes to biodegrade, and the importance of recycling and composting.
Plant a tree or some flower seeds. Turn it into a learning activity about the Carbon Cycle. Talk about the value of native plants and indigenous species.
Make observations, ask questions and gather data to conduct a GLOBE research project. You can pick a topic of interest in your country or neighborhood to test, like water or air quality. Then go to the GLOBE database, enter your data, and look up the test results posted by students in similar locations around the world. Formulate a research project based on what you have learned. Afterward, organize a group of people to clean up the area that you tested.
Attend a local Earth Day event. See the Earth Day Network and the Jane Goodall Institute Earth Day page for ideas on events and activities that you can participate in. NOAA and GLOBE personnel will staff the GLOBE booth at the NOAA Earth Day Green Fair on Thursday, 23 April 2009, at the David Skaggs Research Center, in Boulder, Colorado.
How about a fundraiser to raise the means to create a weather station? Reach out to your local community members such as grandparents and other family members, local business people and scientists, and invite them to become involved. Let them know about the research you are doing with GLOBE and tell them about the Student Research Campaign on Climate. Your event can be social, with music and food, and as well as educational, with discussion of possible research ideas for the GLOBE climate campaign. You can apply donations toward your GLOBE program needs, help make your school greener, use them for energy saving light bulbs, cleaner water, etc. And if your community does not need this kind of assistance, then find one that does! Help those who can't afford to purchase new technology find a way to "go green".
There are so many ways that we can help the environment while learning more about it, and these are a few ideas to help get you started. As always, please send information about your Earth Day event to us at communications@globe.gov. We would love to hear about what you did to celebrate Earth Day. Send photos too! If we receive enough of them, we will put up a page on our Web site to share your events for all to see.