Happy Earth Day 2015 from the Jefferson County Post!

April 22 is Earth Day, a day devoted to environmental conservation, protection, and sustainability. Overall, Earth Day is a relatively newer holiday, founded in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, who would win the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award for his work. Earth Day originated as a teach-in, an education forum devoid of specific discussion or time constraints, in order to spread news and awareness concerning environmental protection. Today, however, the holiday is more abstract in nature. While educational discussions and forums still occur, it is up to local organizations to choose how they will celebrate the holiday. Peaceful activism is common, as is the communal replanting of trees, trash-cleaning movements, and countless other individual displays of environmental reform. Despite the holiday’s American origin, Dennis Hayes, the original Earth Day’s national coordinator, pushed the holiday into the international spotlight. Today, as many as 141 nations celebrate Earth Day, with some opting to devote the whole week (dubbed Earth Week) to environmental reform. While there is no official emphasis on particular issues on Earth Day, movements still arise trying to further certain causes. Earth Day 2015 is widely being devoted to saving populations of tigers around the world, a movement primarily fronted by the Crusade for Revival of Environment and Wildlife’s (CREW) posting the reports Vanishing Stripes (1999) and Vanishing Stripes-II (2000) in the public domain.