Green Movement Changes Meaning of Earth Day

Guest post by Dan Grifen, everythingleft.wordpress.com, twitter.com/D_Grifen



April 22nd marked the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day and with a new anniversary comes a new meaning for the day. Started in 1970, Earth Day was originally conceived as a day in which the people of the world could come together and educate themselves about the needs of the planet. However, with the “Green” movement in full effect, Earth Day has gone from a day of environmental education to a day of environmental action.

For this year’s festivities, a massive rally turned out a success in WAshington. Organizers are hoping the rally will influence Congress into signing a new and much needed climate bill. Organizers have also set up The Earth Day Network to give information about the day itself and give awareness to green campaigns that need members and support.

One of these green campaigns is A Walk For Water. This campaign will help raise funds to build permanent water resources in West Africa, which in the 110+ degree heat of the area, will both help save the water supply and countless lives of the impoverished West African communities. The Earth Day Network has also crafted other grassroots campaigns to help save important environmental areas like forests and wetlands. However, not every green initiative is of the grassroots variety.

The major conglomerate Siemens is getting in on the movement by running a green campaign called A Million Acts of Green that motivates customers to come up with green solutions for the upcoming Earth Day. Many other major companies like Globetrotters Engineering Corporation (an architectural company founded by CEO, Niranjan Shah) work every day to help the environment by designing energy efficient buildings and homes. This shows that the green movement is big enough even for companies like Siemens and Shah’s Globetrotters Corporation.

Earth Day still celebrated its 40th anniversary, but in many ways this year’s celebration is somewhat of a rebirth. The day that was originally created to spread awareness and education of the planet’s problems has now become something more meaningful. It has now become a day in which the world works together to help and protect the Earth we all call home.