By now, you’ve surely heard of Earth Day, and even Earth Week.  But how did this strange celebration of our planet start?

Over 4 decades ago, in 1969, plans for the first Earth Day started taking form.  It was originally intended to be on March 21st, which is the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. The first person to propose an Earth Day was a peace activist named John McConnell.  Later, it would come to be an effort on an international scale, organized by the Earth Day Network.

A month after the first Earth Day US Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed an additional day on April 22nd to celebrate the Earth and nature.  In it’s first year over 12,000 schools, colleges, and other institutions participated in an attempt to bring about environmental reform and to protect our environment for future generations.

The event was participated in by major cities as well, including New York city.  The mayor of New York city shut down parts of the city to celebrate the event, and event reserved all of Central Park for the festivities and demonstrations.  Senator Nelson would be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts in years to come.

By 1990 Earth Day had snowballed into a global event, with people celebrating everywhere from small rural United States towns to the peak of Mt. Everest where a clean-up effort transported 2 tons of trash down the mountain.

Today Earth Day is bigger than ever, being celebrated in at least 192 countries and on all seven continents.

The best part is that YOU can get involved too!  Check out this list of events for fun things you can do next week to get involved!

http://www.uww.edu/sustainability/campus-living-and-engagement/events/earth-week

Obviously, temperatures have started to rise, rain has started to fall, and finally it is here.  Spring, that is.  After sitting inside all winter, you may be wondering, what kind of fun stuff can I do this spring?  A fun suggestion I have is participate in Earth Week!

Earth Week begins on Monday, April 21st, and is an exciting way to have some fun and help your environment all at the same time.  There will be a number of events going on on campus, and there are tons of ways you can get involved or just keep yourself busy!

Monday is going to be a packed day, with all sorts of stuff going on.  PEACE and SAGE will be presenting a double feature of two awesome movies in the Summers Auditorium.  At 1PM they will begin showing Who Killed the Electric Car, which is a documentary about the reasons why electric cars failed in the 1990’s and beginning of the 2000’s.  This will be followed by Revenge of the Electric Car, which is a follow-up documentary made after the rise in popularity of electric vehicles that we have seen since the end of the 2000’s.

Across campus, at 4PM, there will be an alternative fuel vehicle show outside of the Young Auditorium.  You can stop by and check out all kinds of cool, cutting edge new cars like the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.   This event is leading up to Monday night’s main event! At 7PM, the director of Who Killed the Electric Car and Revenge of the Electric Car, Chris Paine, will be giving a special lecture.  It is titled “How Many Light Bulbs Does it Take to Power an Electric Car?” and will surely put in perspective the advantages and advantages of alternative fuel vehicles!

Tuesday is officially Earth Day, and you can bet that means even more great things to do!  Not only will there be another film double feature at 1PM in the Summers Auditorium, but starting at 10am outside the UC, you can go and get FREE bike checkups and basic maintenance from BicycleWise, all organized by the UW-Whitewater Cycling Club.  Also starting at 10am is a Birds of Prey feature in the Upham atrium.  You can come watch flight demonstrations and get to see owls, hawks, and other birds of prey right up close!

Wednesday might even be the best day of the week yet!  We will be hosting a Recyclable Fashion Show in the Hyland Hall Timmerman Auditorium starting at 4PM.  This may sound girly, but it’s not! It’s for men and women alike!  You don’t have to come and make a dress.  Be creative!  Perhaps you do make a dress, or perhaps you design a suit of armor! We’ve had all sorts of different ideas win in the past, so who knows what the winning outfits might look like this year.

There will also be an ECOFair Wednesday, at 12PM in the Hamilton Ballroom.  This is something brand new to campus, and it has been in the works for several years.  There will be many organizations and companies coming to talk about sustainability, hand out swag, and (most importantly) hand out jobs and internships, all in the field of sustainability!!!

Clearly, there are all kinds of great things to do during Earth Week, so we can’t wait to see you all there and getting involved!