Kean University prepares to take action during Earth Day
By Danielle Junio | Published by April 5, 2019
Every year on April 22 people worldwide celebrate a holiday known as Earth Day. On Earth day people dedicate their time to educate others about environmental concerns, protection and volunteer to take part in activities that serve the planet.
Some of these activities include picking up litter off of beaches and along the road, planting trees/plants, and recycling.
The first ever Earth Day was held on April 22,1970. It all started when people became more aware about the environmental impacts of pollution in the 1960s which was when the New York Times best-selling novel “Silent Springs,” written by Rachel Carson was published. That novel alone informed hundreds of readers about the harmful impacts of pesticides on the environment.
During that time period, it had been mentioned by the Earth Day network after that Senator Gaylord Nelson, the Earth Day Founder, witnessed the impacts of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California and the student Anti-Vietnam War movement, he was inspired to promote change.
He believed that he could incorporate the students’ energy with the growing public knowledge about air and water pollution to force environmental protection onto the national political agenda.
As a result, Senator Nelson created a national board to help him create and host events around the world. The Earth Day Network even mentions that Senator Nelson choose the date January 22 as the day to represent Earth Day, since it was the time period between spring break and finals which would allow students to be actively involved and promote environmental awareness to future generations.
Luckily for Senator Nelson, the first Earth Day celebrate was a huge success and the people voted to make Earth Day a National Holiday. Now to this day, countries, states, communities, and universities (such as Kean) take time to implement activities to represent Earth Day.
“KU’s Earth Week activities are essential in advancing awareness of the serious issues facing the earth, but we can address locally,” said William Heyniger, an earth and environmental science professor at Kean University. “The real sense of contribution arises from participation of solving a problem, whether a personal choice to reduce, reuse, recycle, reject or engage in community activism to solve an issue! Solutions and action at the local level, when replicated simultaneously over many localities, accumulate into large resolutions of environmental issues.”
As an example, Kean University’s Earth Week kicks-off on Monday April 15 with the premier of The Lorax at MSC Little Theatre from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Then throughout the week multiple other events will be held in honor of Earth day including an Earth Day fair on Tuesday April 16 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Then it ends on Thursday April 18 with the annual Elizabeth River clean-up which will be located by the soccer fields on East Campus from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The KU Earth Science club along with the School of Environmental and Sustainable Sciences allow a simple way to band together and contribute back to the planet that provides for life, in all shapes and sizes,” William Heyniger said.