The year 2020 will mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. In honor of this milestone, a group of seasoned local environmental supporters will use this year’s 49th year as a platform to build renewed awareness around the holiday and its mission. The group will host a ceremonial “passing of the torch” to a younger generation of community environmental stewards at 11 a.m., Monday, April 22 in Springfield’s Park Central Square.
“We plan to symbolically pass the baton from one generation of Earth fighters to the next,” explains Loring Bullard of the Earth Day 2019 organizing committee. “We will ask young advocates to plan next year’s Earth Day Celebration. We will support them, and resolve to be there, whatever they plan to do.”
Involving representatives from numerous community environmental organizations, the event will serve as the kickoff to Earth Day cleanups and volunteer opportunities across the city.
“We hope that through this event and connecting the community to volunteering opportunities, it will ignite a resurgence in awareness and passion in making every day Earth Day – not just April 22nd,” says Bullard.
Earth Day 2019 Committee Includes:
- Todd Parnell
- Linda Chorice
- Barbara Lucks
- Tim Smith
- Beth Siegfried
- Joe Pitts
- Kane Sheek
- Terry Whaley
- Loring Bullard
About Earth Day
Forty-nine years ago, on April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment during the nation’s first Earth Day celebration. By the end of that year, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.
Today, Earth Day is celebrated globally by more than a billion people in celebrations in more than 193 countries. It is meant as a day of action that changes human behavior and provokes policy changes.
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For more information, contact Communication Coordinator Kristen Milam 573-819-3713 or [email protected].