Earth Day 2011 - How Green Can You Go?

The objective behind Earth Day is to inspire other individuals to work towards creating a greener environment and carrying out simple acts that in turn, can make a difference to the world that we live in.

First celebrated on April 22nd of 1970, Earth Day has now grabbed the attention of more than 1 billion people all over the world. It was founded by US Senator Gaylord Nelson after a huge oil spill in California in 1969. The senator was inspired by students' anti-war movement during that time and wanted to have a day where the same energy would be channeled towards raising awareness on the impact of air and water pollution on our environment.

Organizers of Earth Day have worked hard to incorporate various disciplines towards one cause. Music is one, where artists from different parts of the world offered "green" music which can be enjoyed and downloaded for free. 

Design is another discipline that was integrated with Earth Day and allowed a large number of individuals to be a part of the cause. Having an appreciation and interest for art, I was curious to look into a competition that was set up. Participants were given the task of illustrating a message about the importance of the environment on a t-shirt. A total of 161 submissions were made, and the winner will be announced on April 22nd. The chosen design will be available for sale on Threadless, where 25% of the sale of each t-shrit will fund Earth Day Network's efforts to promote environmental awareness. 

Below are a few examples of some of the submissions made. To view all t-shirt designs, click here.

One simple thing you can do as a contribution to Earth Day is to make a pledge on "Billion Acts of Green" to perform an act that can make a difference to the environment. Nonetheless, you can also make a pledge to yourself to conduct an act that you can start at home or in the office. The act can be as simple as recycling paper, plastic and glass, or as complex as organizing an event to raise awareness in your community. Whatever you chose to do, no act is too little to make a difference to the Earth.