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Celebrate Earth Day With Your Kids
Filed under: Going Green
The future of the earth is in the hands of our children. Credit: aussiegall, Flickr
Forty years ago, on April 22, 1970, Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day as a nationwide protest against the growing environmental degradation that had become the norm in the U.S.
Since that initial grassroots effort to bring awareness to environmental concerns, Earth Day has grown into a worldwide call-to-action. Celebrated by more than one billion people annually, Earth Day is the largest secular holiday in the world.
Credited with being the force behind the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts, Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 of every year. And, despite the worldwide acknowledgment of the fragility of our planet, it is our children who will someday be responsible for taking care of our planet.
Here are some ways you can help them learn about the earth and get involved in making it a better place.
Play
- Funschool is a collection of online games and crafts that entertain while teaching children about recycling, the earth sciences and the environment.
- Primary Games is another excellent site full of Earth Day games and stories for kids.
- Environmental Kids Club Game Room is sponsored by the EPA and features games that teach about everything from air quality to the water cycle.
- Earth Book for Kids is packed with great ideas for crafts, projects and experiments that encourage young children to become active participants in healing the earth.
- A Hot Planet Needs Cool Kids explores climate change and what kids can do to make a difference.
- 365 Ways to Live Green for Kids: Saving the Environment at Home, School or at Play -- Every Day! offers practical ideas for things kids can do each day to live ecologically friendly lives.
- Holiday Facts & Fun: Earth Day features students participating in Earth Day activities and learning about the importance of maintaining the health of our planet.
- Planet Earth -- The Complete BBC Series includes all five discs of the amazing 11-part nature and wildlife documentary.
- Planet Earth -- The Future reveals the vulnerability of the earth through astonishing images and the stories behind them.
- Environmental Kids Club is sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and includes lots of educational information, as well as links for middle and high schoolers who want to get involved and go green.
- Earth Day Network is packed with information on Earth Day and provides a searchable database of events and activities around the world.
- Earth Hour Kids is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund and and provides information on conservation and ideas for kids who want to take action.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 2)
4-22-2010 @ 11:38AM
rogmcshane said...Who in there right mind comes up with these idiotic days anyway. Are they simple minded (retarded). Earth day, give me a break. I would like to call you people what I really think of you but those turds at AOL will only blot it out. But you can guess what it would be it sounds like gas and has a hole at the end.
Reply
4-22-2010 @ 11:51AM
jj said...I agree with you.......Who does come up with these silly assed holidays?
I think you can point at Washingtom DC and get your answer!
4-22-2010 @ 11:57AM
rooffee said...People like you is why this DAY must be put into place and should be recognized not only today but we should acknowledge our earth every day. What we do not appreciate today will not be here tomorrow. Think about the generations to come. We are suffering today from damage to our earth done by our ancestors, only future can only get worse.
4-22-2010 @ 3:12PM
jerry breitinger said...I agree with you rogmcshane. 100%.
4-23-2010 @ 1:56AM
Joyce said...Hey Rog,
One thing... THERE right mind is actually THEIR. You should learn better spelling, grammar and punctuation before you post any idiotic crap, where the whole civilized world can read your bad English. You should be ashamed of yourself for putting Earth Day down. What have YOU done lately to preserve this beautiful planet on which you live and breathe??? (People in glass houses should not throw stones.) Earth Day, I think, is a great "holiday" of sorts. It prompts us ALL to be kinder to our Earth... before we don't have it anymore. And if that happens, you won't be able to abuse the Internet any longer! And, oh yeah, what about your kids... and their kids... and so on? Aren't you even a bit thankful for all you have?
J.
4-22-2010 @ 12:06PM
FYFY said...Get the kids to believe this crap,and it will be around for generations.This is why home-schooling is so necessary.Keep your kids away from these commies.
Reply
4-22-2010 @ 2:50PM
Melissa said...Give me a break.
4-23-2010 @ 12:01AM
phil said...Agreed. I will celebrate Earth Day by going to work. Many of you should try it sometime. It feels great to actually earn some money, rather than rely on other tax-payers for your food. If you remember your High School biology...you know what a parasite eventually does to its host.
4-22-2010 @ 12:13PM
L.Myles said...Earth Day was organized back in 1969-1970 by students, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelpia area. You must be under 50 not to know this history. I had off from my local high school to attend the rally in the park. It inspired a generation and their children to help stop pollution and waste created by business and everyday households.
So lets not celebrate all holidays created by Washington if that is your view. Memorial Day, 4th of July,Labor Day and Thanksgiving. Holidays we usually get paid for and can stay home. Lets go to work then.
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4-22-2010 @ 1:26PM
Delaware Jack said...Remember the Earth Day Predictions of 1970 ?? Here are the reasons you shouldn’t believe Earth Day Predictions of 2010 !! ( April 22, 2010 )
******* For the next 24 hours, the media will assault us with tales of imminent disaster that always accompany the annual Earth Day Doom & Gloom Extravaganza.
******* Ignore them. They’ll be wrong. We’re confident in saying that because they’ve always been wrong. And always will be.
******* Need proof? Here are some of the hilarious, spectacularly wrong predictions made on the occasion of Earth Day 1970.
* * *
( 1 ) “We have about five more years at the outside to do something.”
• Kenneth Watt, ecologist
( 2 ) “Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.”
• George Wald, Harvard Biologist
( 3 ) “We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.”
• Barry Commoner, Washington University biologist
( 4 ) “Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.”
• New York Times editorial, the day after the first Earth Day
( 5 ) “Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”
• Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
( 6 ) “By…[1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s.”
• Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
( 7 ) “It is already too late to avoid mass starvation.”
• Denis Hayes, chief organizer for Earth Day
( 8 ) “Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.”
• Peter Gunter, professor, North Texas State University
( 9 ) “Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….”
• Life Magazine, January 1970
( 10 ) “At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it’s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.”
• Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
( 11 ) Stanford's Paul Ehrlich announces that the sky is falling.
“Air pollution…is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone.”
• Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist
( 12 ) “We are prospecting for the very last of our resources and using up the nonrenewable things many times faster than we are finding new ones.”
• Martin Litton, Sierra Club director
( 13 ) “By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate…that there won’t be any more crude oil. You’ll drive up to the pump and say, `Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, `I am very sorry, there isn’t any.’”
• Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
( 14 ) “Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, believes that in 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct.”
• Sen. Gaylord Nelson
( 15 ) “The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.”
• Kenneth Watt, Ecologist
***** Keep these predictions in mind when you hear the same predictions made today. They’ve been making the same predictions for 40 years. And they’re going to continue making them until…well…forever.
******* Here we are, 40, years later and the economy sucks, but the ecology’s fine. In fact this planet is doing a lot better than the planet on which those green lunatics live.
Reply
4-23-2010 @ 1:52AM
Chuck said...I have come to realize that those who are opposed to saving the earth, are the same selfish, greedy, ignorant, and non-tolerant folks who make up the tea-bagger party in America. Their ideology is based on shear selfishness, greed and outright ignorance. Many of such folks know nothing beyond their very residential areas at best.
As someone who has lived a third of his life each, in three continents of the world, and now in the early fifties, negative changes to our world due to human activities and carelessness are glaring all over the world.
It is ironic that most of these people who do not proscribe to saving the earth or doing anything that help their fellow human beings, claim to be Christians. Yet Christ they claim to profess taught us to be good stewards of our environment, love our fellow man as ourselves, help the poor, share with others, etc.
Such folks would rather have asked the "wise boy", who gave up his five loaves of bread and two fishes, at Christ's request, to go to the corner and eat his meal, while the rest of the people starved. But he provided his meal for a miracle, and as a result 5000 people were fed, and twelve extra baskets were gathered after the feast.
Such folks would rather behave like those who passed by, until the good Samaritan (an Arab), lent a helping hand.
The lessons here, and from all the earthly works and utterances of Jesus Christ is that we should all shone selfishness and greed ideologies, and do those things that will benefit the common good of humanity. Then and only then, would we be preparing ourselves for eternal salvation.
4-22-2010 @ 4:20PM
SamhainBorn said...Well, some of the reasons these things have NOT come to pass are as follows:
---- Changes have been made in the way we grow and process our food, leading to more edible foodstuffs and less waste. (therefore, reducing chances of famine)
---- Changes have been made in the amounts and types of gas we use, the allowable limit of greenhouse gases released by coal burning energy plants, and the emissions allowed by any operating motor vehicle. This has reduced the air pollution.
---- Technology is increasing at an exponential rate. Things that were unthinkable in the early 1970's are now so common they are taken for granted. Most of those predictions relied on an UNCHANGING technological environment. They did not take into account the effects of new technology on our food resources, or air quality.
---- Methods of recycling have improved, and become more common and available to more people. Less waste from the plants that make the new products. Less waste falling into landfills.
These are just a very few things that have happened. Someone has to make these changes, over time. Now the "end of the earth" scenarios may be WAY overplayed, but they are real concerns, and every estimate is a best guess that relies on the CURRENT levels of activity and technology. As more people work to make things more earth friendly and sustainable, while reducing our impact on the earth, those estimated dates get pushed back further and further.
Is some of it alarmist propaganda? Oh yes, certainly. And there will always be crazies out there trying to scare you into doing something.
But ignoring these problems doesn't make them go away. It's due in large part to these "green lunatics" efforts that the changes to keep us AWAY from those "imminent disaster(s)" have been made.
I'm not saying "eat only organic, wear only organic, live in a house made of sticks and straw". But how does recycling hurt you? You don't have to be a "lunatic". But just a few changes in your lifestyle -- like using cold water to wash with, a non-phosphate detergent, and changing to compact flourescent bulbs -- would go a long way to reducing your impact.
4-22-2010 @ 3:45PM
Christine said...Just take them outside to pick up trash in your neighborhood!!
Easiest thing ever!
Use paper bags to collect it and throw it away....or re-use grocery bags for this purpose. It's shocking how much litter is around, when you look.
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4-22-2010 @ 2:58PM
Gary said...nothing but liberal indoctrination, just like the man-made global warming hoax. I'm leaving all of my lights on today and tonight and putting steaks on the grill for supper.
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4-22-2010 @ 11:35PM
Holly said...Right there with you, Gary. Our kids get enough of this PC indoctination in the schools. I think I'll spend Earth Day teaching my grandkids about the Global Warming hoax and the wasting of taxpayer dollars on pseudo-science and that the last period of global warming resulted in a very prosperous Europe; or maybe I'll take them to a dying farm denied water to grow crops because preserving the habitat of some insignificant tiny fish that no one ever heard of was deemed a more important use of water Of course, no one wants to see rivers afire because of pollution or skies darkened by industrial smoke but those days are long gone. Today, we have environuts who want to hinder businesses and growth with ridiculous overregulation.
4-22-2010 @ 3:53PM
kate asher said...A REALLY STUPID DAY FOR LOSERS AND THEIR STUPID STINKY KIDS!
WELCOME TO THE DUMBING DOWN OF AMERICA!!
BY THE WAY I HEAR THIS DAY EARTH DAY WAS INVENTED BY ALLISTAR CROWLEY THE WORLD FAMOUS DEVIL WORSHIPPER AND SATAN LOVER!!
ENJOY YOURSELVES DIRTBAGS.
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4-22-2010 @ 4:35PM
Corbin said...I plan to celebrate Earth Day by burning some tires in my yard, clubbing some baby seals, shooting and eating a bald eagle, cutting down a tree unnecessarily, pouring some used oil into the sewer, turning on all the lights in my house (except in my bedroom, where I'll be sleeping) leaving the water running from my outside faucet, and setting several Ivory billed woodpecker traps. Ah, I love Earth Day!
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4-22-2010 @ 11:36PM
jw said...Earth Day was Dennis Hayes's idea (from Camas, Washington).
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4-22-2010 @ 8:27PM
qreg said...I'm amazed at how hostile people are towards the very idea of caring about the environment. Not even just the mandatory stuff but voluntary things at well. It just goes to show you how manipulated some of you are by the corporations and the politicians who back them. And yet you think you are enlightened.
Don't want to celebrate, then don't. Don't be asses about those who do.
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4-22-2010 @ 10:05PM
KC said...You are so right - what is so wrong about caring for the environment? Am I to suppose all these people are against simple recycling as well? Geeze, what is wrong with people? Why do they seems to think it's idiotic to want to live in a clean world? Dothey really believe we have a never ending supply of water? power? clean air? It just makes me sad.