Earth Day 2022 Date, Theme, History, Significance

Earth Day is celebrated annually on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

It was first celebrated on April 22, 1970. The observance includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) involving 193 countries.

Earth Day 2022 Theme: “Invest in our planet”

The Earth Day 2022 theme is “Invest in our Planet” and features five primary programs: The Great Global Cleanup, Sustainable Fashion, Climate and Environmental Literacy, Canopy Project, Food and Environment, and the Global Earth Challenge.

In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere.

This day of nature’s equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.

A month later, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the National Coordinator. Nelson and Hayes renamed the event “Earth Day”.