From Wikipedia,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_day :

“The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969. A second Earth Day, which was founded by U.S. politician Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in the late 1960s, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22.”

“Responding to widespread environmental degradation, Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, called for an environmental teach-in, or Earth Day, to be held on April 22, 1970. Over 20 million people participated that year, and Earth Day is now observed each year on April 22 by more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries. Senator Nelson, an environmental activist, took a leading role in organizing the celebration, hoping to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda”

“It is now observed in 175 countries, and coordinated by the nonprofit Earth Day Network, according to whom Earth Day is now ‘the largest secular holiday in the world, celebrated by more than a half billion people every year.’ Environmental groups have sought to make Earth Day into a day of action which changes human behavior and provokes policy changes.”

I remember going to going to the Yale University campus for the first Earth Day. There were speakers and music. I had fun but also learned a great deal I had not know, not bothered to think about. I learned the importance of recycling. A few links with more information: http://www.nrc-recycle.org/ and http://earth911.org

Recycling is a lifestyle, not a slogan. If what we have is not broken why do we need to buy a new one?  If something is broken we should try to get it fixed before we buy a new one.  Never throw anything out until we are sure we can’t use it.  Having a tag sale is better than just throwing stuff out.  We should give what we no longer want to a charity, rather than just throw it away.

We are bombarded with advertisements about great looking products, with the latest styles and newest features. We “want” them all. The first question should be do we “need” them. If we can replace the words “I want” with “I need” we will go along way to making better decisions about our resources.