Celebrating Earth Day
April 22 Marks the Celebration of Earth Day
The Focused Effort to Protect our Planet Continues
Created by Senator Gaylord Nelson and Denis Hayes, Earth Day was launched in 1970.
Nelson, the Democratic senator from Wisconsin, had long been concerned about the deteriorating environment. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a teach-in on college campuses to the national media, and persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair.
Nelson recruited Denis Hayes, a young activist, to organize the campus teach-ins and to scale the idea to a broader public, choosing the date of April 22, because it was a weekday falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, to maximize the greatest student participation.
Learn more about the origin story of Earth Day.
The Earth Day website states:
“Recognizing its potential to inspire all Americans, Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land and the effort soon broadened to include a wide range of organizations, faith groups, and others. They changed the name to Earth Day, which immediately sparked national media attention, and caught on across the country. Earth Day inspired 20 million Americans — at the time, 10% of the total population of the United States — to take to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development which had left a growing legacy of serious human health impacts.”
The first Earth Day made a big impact. By the end of 1970, the event led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of other first-of-their-kind environmental laws, including the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later congress passed the Clean Water Act.
Helping to protect the environment is an ongoing task. Americans continue to push back-both individually and in groups- against oil spills, factories that pollute, toxic dumps, pesticides, the loss of wilderness, the extinction of wildlife and negative impact changes to current EPA laws.
“The ultimate test of a man's conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”
— Gaylord Nelson
How can you help make our planet a healthier place to live? These materials at your Yorktown Public Library are available to help you get started.
IN THE CHILDREN’S COLLECTION:
Earth Day-Hooray by Stuart Murphy
A drive to recycle cans on Earth Day teaches the children of the Maple Street School Save-the-Planet Club about place value.
Earth Day by Marc Tyler Nobleman
This book, for the interest level of grade level K-3 readers, examines Earth Day, when it is and how it began, what it represents, and what it means to the people.
All New Crafts for Earth Day by Kathy Ross
This book illustrates how to reuse a variety of household items, presenting illustrated instructions for twenty-two craft projects made of objects such as old magazines, soda bottles, marker caps, and used dryer sheets.
Let’s Celebrate Earth Day by Connie Roop
This book offers a well-rounded introduction to Earth Day for young readers in a question- and-answer format. Important facts about the state of our earth are interspersed throughout, but an overall positive tone leaves readers feeling encouraged, not discouraged
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle by Cecilia Minden
Save the Planet: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle applies the NCTE/IRA Standards to science and social studies content. Each book sends the reader on a fact-finding mission, posing an initial challenge and concluding with questions and answers. Through engaging, interactive scenarios, learners can experiment with text prediction, purpose-driven research, and creative problem solving--all critical thinking skills--while learning about ways to care for our planet.
Earth Day by Molly Aloian
This book examines the history and traditions of Earth Day, an observance which promotes awareness of and appreciation for the Earth's environment.
“If every day were Earth Day, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in.”
— Neil deGrasse Tyson
IN THE ADULT COLLECTION:
Adaptation and Climate Change by Gail Herman
Is climate change overstated? Is adaptation or mitigation a better approach to climate change? What is the impact of climate change on the world so far? This book tackles these important questions through presenting a diversity of viewpoints. Topics such as the relocation of populations, the impact of climate change on animal and plant species, the question of food and water security, and the role of business on climate change policy are discussed at length to provide readers with foundational knowledge they will not get elsewhere.
The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg
We still have time to change the world. From climate activist Greta Thunberg, comes the essential handbook for making it happen. You might think it's an impossible task: secure a safe future for life on Earth, at a scale and speed never seen, against all the odds. There is hope--but only if we listen to the science before it's too late. Greta Thunberg has gathered the wisdom of over one hundred experts--geophysicists, oceanographers and meteorologists; engineers, economists and mathematicians; historians, philosophers and Indigenous leaders--to equip us all with the knowledge we need to combat climate disaster. Alongside them, she shares her own stories of demonstrating and uncovering greenwashing around the world, revealing how much we have been kept in the dark. This is one of our biggest challenges, she shows, but also our greatest source of hope. Once we are given the full picture, how can we not act? And if a schoolchild's strike could ignite a global protest, what could we do collectively if we tried? We are alive at the most decisive time in the history of humanity. Together, we can do the seemingly impossible. But it has to be us, and it has to be now.
An Inconvenient Truth--Gore's groundbreaking, battle cry of a follow-up to the bestselling Earth in the Balance--is being published to tie in with a documentary film of the same name. Both the book and film were inspired by a series of multimedia presentations on global warming that Gore created and delivers to groups around the world. With this book, Gore, who is one of our environmental heroes--and a leading expert--brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world; photographs, charts, and other illustrations; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming. He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness--and with humor, too--that the fact of global warming is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be disastrous if left unchecked. This riveting new book--written in an accessible, entertaining style--will open the eyes of even the most skeptical.
ON THE LIBBY APP:
Every Day is Earth Day (eBook) by Jane O’Conner
Fancy Nancy fans of all ages will love this sweet story about learning to respect both the Earth and your family. Learning to respect the environment is no small task, especially if you want to celebrate Earth Day every day of the week! Luckily, Nancy is on hand to make sure Mom, Dad, and her little sister do their part in being green--even if she has to keep reminding them.
BONUS: This material is also available as an audio book.
Earth Day Every Day (eBook) by Lisa Bullard
On Earth Day, we find ways to help the Earth. Trina plants trees with her class. She forms an Earth Day club with her friends. What can you do to make every day Earth Day? Do your part to be a planet protector! Discover how to reduce, reuse, recycle, and more with Tyler and Trina in the Planet Protectors series, part of the Cloverleaf Books(tm) collection. These nonfiction picture books feature kid-friendly text and illustrations to make learning fun!
History Smashers: Earth Day and the Environment (eBook) by Kate Messner
In April 1970, twenty million people grabbed their rakes, gloves, and recycling bins to celebrate the first Earth Day. Since that environmental kickoff, nature has never been in better shape. RIGHT? WRONG! The real deal is a bit muddier than that. It's true that the first Earth Day encouraged people around the globe to clean up their act when it came to the environment. But activists have been working for centuries to save the planet! Native people across the world developed sustainable farming practices, women in eighteenth-century India stood up to protect trees, and amateur scientist Eunice Foote discovered the science behind global warming all the way back in the 1850s! Join the History Smashers team to bust history's biggest misconceptions and figure out what in the world really went down before (and after!) the first Earth Day--and how you can join the fight to protect the environment.
Celebrate Earth Day (eBook) by Evan-Morr Educational Publishers
Practice basic skills while celebrating Earth Day! Three pocket projects help your students celebrate Earth Day while they practice basic skills. Activities are designed to help students connect information about conservation of resources, recycling, and endangered animals with their own lives. Pocket 1: Garbage Mobile The Ozone Layer When the Forests Are Gone... Pocket 2: Lunch Box Pop-Up Earth Day Scavenger Hunt Pocket 3: Pack It Up! Earth Day Pledge.
Throw an Earth Day Party (eBook) by Christina Leaf
Let's celebrate Earth! This fun title offers Earth-friendly crafts and recipes to celebrate our planet with an Earth Day party. Step-by-step instructions help readers prepare food, drinks, and decorations, while short introductions offer information about the projects. Eco-conscious readers will be ready to party with the activities in this makerspace title!
“No one comes from the earth like grass. We come like trees. We all have roots.”
—Maya Angelou
Earth Day and the Environmental Movement: Standing Up for Earth (eBook) by Christy Peterson
On April 22, 1970, an estimated twenty million people held in a teach-in to show their support for environmental protections. This new celebration, Earth Day, brought together previously fragmented issues under the same banner. It was the largest nationwide event ever, and lawmakers took notice. But one day didn't change everything. Fifty years after the first Earth Day, climate change remains a dire concern. The divide between political parties continues to widen, and environmental policy has become an increasingly partisan issue. The spread of disinformation has also made climate change a debatable idea, rather than scientific fact. A new generation of advocates continue the fight to make environmental policy a top priority for the United States and for nations around the globe.
365 Ways You Can Save the Earth: Some Things You Can Do Every Day (audio book) by Michael Viner
Our earth home is in trouble: plastic pollution, acid rain, the greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, and hazardous waste all affect many processes that shape global climate and ecosystems. However, we don't have to go out with a whimper. We can fight back. Even better, we can win. The battlegrounds are our homes, schools, workplaces, and vacation spots. By changing our actions, we can stop the downward spiral. Here are more than 365 ways to be environmentally responsible, many of which are easy. Everything you do makes a difference. That's power--practical power--and all you have to do is use it.
“Nature is always hinting at us. It hints over and over again. And suddenly we take the hint.” — Robert Frost
The Day the River Caught Fire: How the Cuyahoga River Exploded and Ignited the Earth Day Movement (eBook) by Barry Wittenstein
Discover the true story of how a 1969 fire in one of the most polluted rivers in America sparked the national Earth Day movement in this nonfiction picture book by award-winning author Barry Wittenstein and beloved illustrator Jessie Hartland.
After the Industrial Revolution in the 1880s, the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire almost twenty times, earning Cleveland the nickname "The Mistake on the Lake." Waste dumping had made fires so routine that local politicians and media didn't pay them any mind, and other Cleveland residents laughed off their combustible river and even wrote songs about it.
But when the river ignited again in June 1969, the national media picked up on the story and added fuel to the fire of the recent environmental movement. A year later, in 1970, President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency--leading to the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts--and the first Earth Day was celebrated. It was a celebration, it was a protest, and it was the beginning of a movement to save our planet.
THE DVD COLLECTION:
Narrated by Robert Redford, this documentary takes you on a journey around the globe looking at the natural world in a variety of settings- over the course of a single day.
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
A passionate and inspiring look at former Vice President Al Gore's campaign to expose the myths and misconceptions of global warming, and to create public awareness on the subject.
To discover more material on Earth Day, visit your Yorktown Public Library or the YPL website and browse our catalog.
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” — Jane Goodall
The Earth Day theme for 2026 is "Our Power, Our Planet” and , according to Earthday.org , is focused on:
“...the collective power of people and communities to support clean air, water, energy, protected resources, and climate stability, linking environmental health directly to human well-being and economic resilience. This theme emphasizes that civic action and community involvement are crucial for establishing lasting environmental protections and addressing current challenges like climate change and pollution.”
Since its inception over 50 years ago, Earth Day has made a powerful, positive impact on environmental issues, but we must remain vigilant.
Browse the materials at your Yorktown Public Library for more inspiration on how you can continue the cause and support clean air, clean water and clean energy. Earth Day, every day!