Turns out, this green milestone also renders a few colourful facts.
Tuesday, the 22nd of April, 2025, marked Earth Day. The message is clear: it is an annual and global commemoration to remind and encourage all of us, the citizens of the world, that we should take better care of our environment and that everyone possesses the capability to help make Planet Earth become a better, healthier place. Nonetheless, perhaps not many of you know some interesting tidbits about this particular day. Indonesia Expat presents you, as seen and detailed below, a few of those.
Inspired by the 20-million-people movement
Senator Gaylord Nelson, who was also an environmental educator from the United States, pioneered the commemoration of Earth Day back in 1970. At that time, an action was held to raise awareness of the importance of natural balance; the action involved 20 million people. Initially, this was a local movement, which soon developed into a much wider one. In 1990, the Earth Day movement went global with more and more countries involved in the commemoration. Furthermore, in the same year, 140 countries participated in commemorating Earth Day.
Almost had a different name
It was American copywriter Julien Koenig who attempted to come up with the name of “Earth Day”. In his early attempts, he pitched different names such as “Ecology Day,” “Environment Day”, and “E Day”. He also pitched the name that we all know and have embraced today, “Earth Day”, and professed it as his personal favourite name — simply because the 22nd of April also happens to be his birthday, and the word “birthday” rhymes with “Earth Day”. Ultimately, the name “Earth Day” was widely and publicly accepted.
Earth Day followed the US university schedule
Have you ever wondered why Earth Day falls on the 22nd of April? Apparently, as Senator Gaylord Nelson planned the aforementioned action, he was keen on recruiting many protesters and volunteers, including university students. In the United States, the 22nd of April, 1970, happened to fall on a weekday during the school year — between spring break and final exams. Furthermore, the weather of that day was expected to be mild and sunny, allowing everyone to do outdoor activities. Believing that university students would be available to join the movement on the 22nd of April, Nelson, then, decided to conduct the movement on that day, which, long story short, would later be commemorated as Earth Day.
Coincidentally, on the same day as Vladimir Lenin’s birthday
Even though Senator Gaylord Nelson had pure intentions regarding why he chose the 22nd of April as what would later become the first Earth Day, little did most people know, at the time, that the 22nd of April (according to the Gregorian calendar) also happens to be the birthday of the Russian revolutionary and the first head of government of Soviet Russia, Vladimir Lenin. Interestingly, Lenin popularised a tradition in Russia called “subbotniks“, in which the people would do volunteer work on the weekend to clean the streets of garbage, fix public amenities, and collect recyclable material.
Internationally acknowledged by the United Nations (but only pretty recently)
Even though Earth Day found its origin back in 1970, the United Nations acknowledged and made it official (as the International Earth Day) more than 30 years later. Quoted from the UN Environment Programme website, in 2009, the United Nations General Assembly designated the 22nd of April as International Earth Day. The day recognises the Earth and its ecosystems as the common home of humanity and the need to protect them in order to improve human livelihoods, combat climate change, and halt the collapse of biodiversity. Furthermore, climate change, human-caused natural changes, and crimes that damage biodiversity — such as deforestation, land use change, increased agriculture and livestock production, or the rampant illegal wildlife trade — can accelerate the rate of damage to the planet.
Considered the biggest secular event in the world
Earth Day is considered the world’s largest secular (non-religious) event. It is celebrated every year on the 22nd of April and involves more than 190 countries, with the participation of more than one billion people. For example, during the commemoration of Earth Day back in 1990, 200 million people in 141 countries were mobilised, resulting in a major boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helping pave the way for the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. It also prompted President Bill Clinton to award Senator Gaylord Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom—the highest civilian honour given to an American—for his role as the founder of Earth Day.
Correlated with the game-changing Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed on the 22nd of April, 2016 — precisely on Earth Day. The Paris Agreement was negotiated by 196 parties at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference near Paris, France. As quoted from the official website of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement’s overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.” However, in recent years, world leaders have stressed the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of this century.
Inspired several anthems
In 1990, lyricist Barbara Lee George performed a song titled “Earth Day Anthem” with the Children’s Chorus of Sussex County, sung to the tune of Beethoven’s classic composition “Ode to Joy”. New York state congressman Benjamin Gilman was so impressed by the tune that he later recommended that the United States adopt it as the official Earth Day anthem. Other artists, over the following years, have also come up with environment-themed anthems of their own. In 2012, Canadian musician and YouTube personality Andrew Huang wrote a pop song titled “When The Lights Go Down” for World Wildlife Fund Canada. The Boston-based world music ensemble, Libana, has recorded multiple songs dedicated to the Earth, namely “Ancient Mother”, “The Earth is Our Mother”, and “Gaia Now”.
Has its own flag
The Earth Day flag creator, peace activist John McConnell, became inspired to create the flag after seeing a photo of Earth captured from Apollo 10. His goal, then, was to create an emblem that would unify people under a shared vision. He created the first Earth Flag in 1969, and, on the first Earth Day in 1970, the Earth flag was flown by schools, churches, businesses, and other organisations. In 1973, an updated picture was chosen by McConnell, showing a more in-depth image of the planet. In 1992, Russian astronaut Anatoly Berezovoy carried the Earth Flag with him during his time in space.
Continues to face (sneaky) detractors
Not all parties are in favour of Earth Day. For instance, in contemporary times, many corporations have tried to undermine the importance of Earth Day’s message by committing what is called “corporate greenwashing”: a deceptive practice in which corporations would misleadingly portray their products, services, or business practices as more environmentally friendly than they actually are. As quoted from the official website of the United Nations, greenwashing presents a significant obstacle to tackling climate change. By misleading the public to believe that a company or other entity is doing more to protect the environment than it is, greenwashing promotes false solutions to the climate crisis that distract from and delay concrete and credible action.