A Call for Climate
Earth Day 2008 is expected to be the biggest yet! From Tokyo to Togo millions of people around the world will be supporting a Call for Climate, the global warming action theme. There will be hundreds of events all over the globe and April 22 should be a most memorable Earth Day. Earth Day will be asking people to call their government and urge significant and equitable action on climate change.The idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962 in the United States. For several years, it had been an issue that the state of the environment was simply a non-issue in the politics. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to Senator Gaylord Nelson that was a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political “limelight” once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. The senator flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.
The senator continued to speak on environmental issues to different audiences in some twenty-five states. All across the US, evidence of environmental degradation was appearing everywhere, and everyone noticed except the political establishment. The environmental issue simply was not to be found on the nation’s political agenda. The people were concerned, but the politicians were not. Six years would pass before the idea that became Earth Day occurred to him in the summer of 1969. At the time, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called “teach-ins,” had spread to college campuses all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to senator – why not organize a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment? Earth Day was born.
Nowadays Earth Day is a big event celebrated over the whole world with different events. The U.S. events will include A-list musicians and actors, environmental and community leaders, and dozens of exhibits. These special events are the place to be on April 20, right before Earth Day. In eight cities across the US, 1,000 college campuses, and hundreds of community events are expected to attract hundreds of thousands of participants and rally support for immediate and equitable national action on global warming. Washington, DC will be rocking out with the Roots, Toots and the Maytals, and Warren Haynes. In Denver, the line-up includes The Neville Brothers, Benevento Russo, Saul Williams, Rose Hill Drive, and Jackie Greene. The Call for Climate will go out to the U.S. Congress on Earth Day, April 22!
