Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection since 1970.
The day is marked every year to highlight environmental issues including loss of biodiversity, increasing pollution among others.
According to EARTHDAY.ORG, Earth Day is celebrated by planting trees, picking up roadside trash, conducting various programmes to motivate people to adopt ways for sustainable living.
The significance highlights the need for the protection of the environment and the need for its conservation.
The first Earth Day focused on the United States, with a wide range of events, which were coordinated globally with about one billion people in more than 193 countries partaking.
In 1990, Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator of EARTHDAY.ORG in 1970, took it international and organised events in 141 nations.
On Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, China, and some 120 other countries.
This signing satisfied a key requirement for the entry into force of the historic draft climate protection treaty adopted by consensus of the 195 nations present at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
Numerous communities engaged in Earth Day Week actions with an entire week of activities focusing on the environmental issues that the world faces.
On Earth Day 2020, over 100 million people around the world observed the 50th anniversary in what is referred to as the largest online mass mobilization in history.
The theme for this year’s Earth Day is, “Restore Our Earth” and features five primary programmes: The Canopy Project, Food and Environment, Climate Literacy, the Global Earth Challenge, and The Great Global Cleanup.
EARTHDAY.ORG is expected to organise the second-annual Earth Day Live livestream event (April 22, 2021) featuring global activists, international leaders, and influencers and it was an honour that the Biden Administration had decided to convene a global climate summit on Earth Day 2021.
In the United Arab Emirates, students used pedal power to make smoothies in Dubai, proving there’s no need to rely on electricity for everything, in commemoration of the Day.
In Alabama, USA, Children planted a butterfly garden at the Graham Creek Nature Preserve and in Ghana, some institutions, including; the Embassy of Israel, embarked on tree planting exercises.
There are also clean-up exercises in the cities and along the beaches of the capital, spearheaded by the Greater Accra Regional Minister with support from security services and Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
The Government is also working towards safeguarding the environment with efforts at dredging the Odor River, curbing of e-waste pollution at Agbogbloshie and stepping up the fight against illegal mining and pollution of river bodies.
Head of Environmental Quality Department, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr Emmanuel Appoh, said the Agency had installed two modern monitoring equipment, at Adabraka in Accra, and the University of Ghana (UG) campus, to give real-time data on air quality in the region for policy direction.
