Msikaba Gorge

18 Apr 2011

We celebrate the 41^st anniversary of Earth Day in 2011. This day marks an opportunity for volunteers to initiate actions towards a sustainable future. Volunteers may like to join the Green Generation and register their efforts on the website www.earthday.net as part of the Billion Acts of Green Campaign. The Billion Acts of Green Campaign aims “to mobilize the power of people to create change by taking small steps in our homes, our schools and our businesses that add up to an enormous collective action”.

Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, founded Earth Day and proposed the first nationwide environmental protest "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national "agenda".

On 22 April 1970, approximately 20 million Americans supported and celebrated the first Earth Day and today it is celebrated worldwide with more than 17 000 groups in 174 countries forming a global network that works towards environmental protection in communities, regions and around the world. More than a billion people around the world participate in Earth Day activities. In 1990 Earth Day had an enormous effect on recycling efforts worldwide and assisted in leading the way to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Earth Day is a global attempt for international cooperation to address issues such as global warming, toxic waste, destruction of rainforests, expanding deserts and ocean pollution.

Individuals and organisations are encouraged to use Earth Day to take environmental action in their area. 

[Extract from A year of special days, 2011, published by Share-Net, a project of WESSA.]

An additional note for Christians (from the Anglican Communion Environment Network):

This year, Earth Day falls on Good Friday, which poses the question: How might the two events co-relate?  To this end we offer in PDF form a liturgy titled: CRUCIFIED EARTH, taken from HOLY GROUND: Liturgies and Worship Resources for the Environment, published by the Iona Community, 2000.