Earth Day 2022
Fifty-two years ago, stories about Earth Day dominated the front pages of newspapers and were featured at the top of newscasts. Back then, the Boston Globe featured stories describing sit-ins and teach-ins at Boston area colleges and universities, demonstrators converging on the Boston Common, noise-pollution protesters staging a die-in at Logan Airport, and Museum of Science visitors writing letters to President Richard Nixon, urging action to combat pollution.
While there might not be the number and scope of activities planned as there were 52 years ago- on April 22, 1970, some 20 million Americans answered the call to speak out for increased protections for our planet - you can still mark the occasion. Consider taking part in the Charles River Cleanup, the Party for the Planet at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo, Indigenous Earth Day at MIT’s Stata Center Amphitheater, or go on a guided hike with the Trustees of Reservations.
Check out the following resources to learn more about the history of Earth Day and what you can do as a consumer to safeguard the earth in keeping with the theme for Earth Day 2022 - #InvestInOurPlanet.
Online Resources
- The Environmental Protection Agency’s Guide to Greener Living
- History of and Primary Sources Related to Earth Day from the Environmental Protection Agency
- How You Can Invest in Our Planet from Earth911
- Ten Ways to Celebrate Earth Day from The Farmer’s Almanac
- Rolling Stone Magazine’s Digital Photographic Archive of the First Earth Day
Books
- An Introduction to Green Criminology & Environmental Justice by Angus Nurse
- Blood and Earth: Modern Slavery, Ecocide, and the Secret to Saving the World by Kevin Bales
- The Ecocentrists: A History of Radical Environmentalism by Keith Mako Woodhouse (eBook)
- Environmental Justice in Postwar America: A Documentary Reader edited by Christopher W. Wells (eBook)
- The Man from Clear Lake: Earth Day Founder Gaylord Nelson by Bill Christofferson (eBook)
- More from Less: The Surprising Story of how we Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources--And What Happens Next by Andrew McAfee
- Toxic Truths: Environmental Justice and Citizen Science in a Post-Truth Age edited by Thom Davies and Alice Mah (eBook)
Streaming Video
- An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power (Paramount Pictures/Participant Media)
- Earth Days (PBS)
- Horizon, Feast to Save the Planet (BBC)
- Is America Doing Enough to Go Green (Makematic)
- Planet Earth: Seven Ways to Help Save the World (CBS News)