Earth Day
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.031205
On this day in 1970, the first Earth Day celebrations took place in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. Earth Day was created to bring “20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform.” Today the celebration is observed in 192 countries, and more than 1 billion people take part. At the UN this afternoon, many of those countries will sign the Paris accords negotiated last December. The document defines steps that the global community will have to take in order to reduce the risk of climate change (see http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36098310 ).
Date in History: 22 April 1970
