International Earth Day – April 22

April 21, 2009

Windmills: renewable energy for future generations

Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the environment.  Earth Day serves as an important reminder for people around the world about the critical need to protect our planet.  The first Earth Day took place on this date in 1970 in Washington, D.C, and was the initiative of former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin (1916-2005), an early and passionate advocate of environmental stewardship.   The popularity of Earth Day has continued to grow.   Across the United States and around the world, governments, environmental organizations and citizens gather to commemorate Earth Day and to participate in conferences, rallies, clean-ups of beaches, forests and parks, tree plantings, and countless other communal activities. More information on Earth Day 2009 is available at http://www.earthday.gov/.

This past weekend in Washington, D.C., over 100,000 Americans gathered on the National Mall for early festivities in honor of Earth Day.  Similar events took place in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle.

In honor of Earth Day 2009, the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw will reaffirm its long-standing support in Poland for the GLOBE project (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment), participating in the 9th Conference of GLOBE School Directors April 29, 2009 in Warsaw.  GLOBE is a worldwide, hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education partnership between the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.  GLOBE was launched on Earth Day 1995 and officially expanded to Poland on Earth Day 1997. GLOBE schools across Poland hold special Earth Day events to commemorate this anniversary. 

This year's Earth Day is also an occasion to celebrate the entry of Warsaw into the Green League of U.S. Embassies  in Europe.  We have committed ourselves to "practice what we preach" on global climate change by adopting a number of best practices for reducing the carbon footprint of our facilities and vehicle fleet.  From Washington, the Department of State has released a number of publications in honor of this Earth Day, available to the general public via the Internet.  These include: The Greening of U.S. Corporations, Rachel Carson: Pen Against Poison, Clean Energy Solutions, and Energy Efficiency: The First Fuel.