WHEREAS, Earth Day is a day for uniting people from around the world under the causes of environmental conservation, justice, and regeneration. Over 20 million people across America commemorated the first Earth Day in 1970 to both celebrate the earth and protest environmental pollution and degradation; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia hosted the world’s first Earth Day as a part of Earth Week which, in 1970, was organized by a group of local professionals, stakeholders, and graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania and featured notable speakers, such as Ralph Nader and Allen Ginsberg; and
WHEREAS, Earth Day has evolved, through the combined efforts of state, local, and federal government, grassroots organizations, and citizens to participate, from a national day of environmental recognition into a worldwide campaign to protect the Earth; and
WHEREAS, The Earth Day Network has dedicated the 2018 Earth Day to plastic pollution in the hopes of reducing plastic’s negative effects, from injuring marine life and disrupting human hormones to littering our landscapes and clogging our waste streams; and
WHEREAS, On this Earth Day, humanity will be facing tremendous global challenges stemming from global climate change, including large-scale migration, extreme inequality and poverty, degradation of ecosystems, and mass extinction of species; and
WHEREAS, Expanding environmental education and climate literacy is vital to enhance awareness about the environment, inform decision-making, and protect future generations, and
WHEREAS, It is critical that we continue to act locally and cooperate internationally to continue our progress in fighting global climate change and other environmental problems; and
WHEREAS, Despite some of Philadelphia’s environmental challenges, the City has a rich history of environmental activism through organizations such as the Penn Environment, Clean Air Council, 350 Philly, the Greater Philadelphia Environmental Network, the Sierra Club, Trust for Public Land, Mom’s Clean Air Force, Philadelphia Climate Works, Overbrook Environmental Center and Green Building United among many, many others; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby recognize April 22, 2018 as Earth Day in the City of Philadelphia.
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