On April 22,1970, millions of people took to the streets to protest the negative impacts of 150 years of industrial development. In the U.S. and around the world, smog was becoming deadly, and evidence was growing that pollution led to developmental delays in children. Biodiversity was in decline as a result of the heavy use of pesticides and other pollutants.

The global ecological awareness was growing, and the U.S. Congress and President Nixon responded quickly. In July of the same year, they created the Environmental Protection Agency, and robust environmental laws such as the Clear Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, among many. Earth Day is now a global event each year, with more than one billion people in 192 countries now taking part in what is the largest civic-focused day of action in the world.

For Earth Day 2019, we will use the power of Earth Day to mobilize the world to Protect Our Species.

Earth Day 2019: Protect Our Species

Nature’s gifts to our planet are the millions of species that we know and love, and many more that remain to be discovered. Together, we can slow the rate of extinctions, and promote the recovery of many of our declining, threatened and endangered species, by building a united global movement of consumers, voters, educators, faith leaders, and scientists to demand immediate action. This Earth Day, we are launching our campaign to Protect Our Species, and invite you to learn about species loss, to take action to protect species and their habitats, and to engage your community in the conversation.

LEARN ABOUT SPECIES LOSS

Our planet is facing a mass extinction of species

Countless species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods (insects and arachnids), fish, crustaceans, corals and other cnidarians, and plants have declined, in many cases, severely. The world is facing the greatest rate of extinction since the disappearance of the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago. Learn more about global species decline in our Fact Sheet about Species Loss.

If we do not act now, extinction may be humanity’s “most enduring legacy”

The unprecedented destruction of the world’s plant and wildlife populations is directly linked to causes driven by human activity: climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution and pesticides to name a few. This decrease in biodiversity negatively affects the capacity of our planet to sustain life, including human life. Learn more about the causes and consequences of species decline.

LEARN ABOUT SPECIES AT RISK IN EDN’S SPECIES PROFILES

TAKE ACTION

Take action to Protect Our Species on Earth Day and beyond!

The impacts of human activity are far reaching, but we can take personal and collective action to protect species and their habitats. Learn more about the actions you can take in the Protect Our Species Primer and Action Toolkit.

Get started today by making sustainable consumption choices, reducing your carbon footprint, conserving water, energy, and natural habitats, reducing pollution from plastics, cleaning products, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, avoiding products that are made from protected plants or animals, and using reef-friendly sunscreen.

Spread the word and stay connected:

• Tag your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts with #EarthDay2019 #ProtectOurSpecies
  
• Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to receive updates and sign up to our newsletter

ENGAGE

Bring your community’s voice into the conversation!

• Organize an event for Earth Day with our Earth Day Organizers Toolkit
• Host a teach-in event in your community with our Earth Day 2019 Teach-in Toolkit
• Tell others about the Protect Our Species campaign
• Tag your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts with #EarthDay2019 #ProtectOurSpecies
• Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to receive updates

EDUCATE  

Use our resources in your school or university to teach and help others organize to Protect Our Species

Colleges and Universities

Earth Day Network’s higher education campaign, MobilizeU, is an international movement of concerned and active students and administrators uniting around their common interest of environmental action in support of a sustainable future for all.

• Download your MobilizeU Student Toolkit or MobilizeU Teach-In Toolkit to help you organize campus teach-ins.

Primary and Secondary Schools

This year’s Climate Education Week Toolkit is a web-based, cross-disciplinary resource that includes a range of lesson plans and educational activities focused on the Earth Day 2019 theme: Protect Our Species. Climate Education Week begins Monday, April 16th and provides a week’s worth of activities leading up to Earth Day on Sunday, April 22nd.

• Download your Climate Education Week Toolkit to help you incorporate lessons on biosdiversity and species protection into your curriculum during Climate Education Week.

The History of Earth Day — celebrating the birth of the modern environmental movement

The first Earth Day in 1970 gave voice to an emerging awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment, and links between pollution and public health. Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, deemed that air pollution could no longer be accepted just as the smell of prosperity. No longer could the industry sector belch out smoke and sludge, with little fear of legal consequence or bad press. No, Nelson reckoned that the status quo must be changed.

It was time that environmental protection be forced onto the national political agenda. On April 22, 1970, Nelson’s idea for a national day to focus on the environment was realized. Twenty million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values. By the end of that year, the first Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.

Learn more about the history of Earth Day.

This Earth Day and beyond, let’s educate our communities on species loss and mobilize action to Protect Our Species. #EarthDay2019 #ProtectOurSpecies

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