Learn about Earth Day in the US
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
| Hi everyone, I'm Alisha. |
| Earth Day is a worldwide celebration that started in the United States. In 1970, a US senator named Gaylord Nelson held what is considered to be the first Earth Day celebration. Today, it's international, but particularly important in the United States. It's all about educating people about and celebrating the importance of the natural environment and working to preserve it. |
| The first Earth Day was tied to a particular environmental disaster. Do you know which one it was? |
| We’ll show you the answer at the end of this video. |
| Earth Day is a holiday that is designed to be educational, but it's a lot of fun, as well. When Gaylord Nelson had the first Earth Day, it was based on the idea of an environmental teach in. That first holiday attracted over twenty million people. Today, the holiday has expanded tremendously. It's estimated that, across the 175 nations that celebrate Earth Day, five hundred million people participate in the events. Earth Week is an offshoot of the celebration. |
| Earth Day celebrations typically include both events where people gather in public places, engage in games and other diversions, and community service efforts. Some of the people who go out to celebrate Earth Day attend one of the many parades that are held to commemorate the day. While the first Earth Day celebrations were considered to be rather political, that has faded over time and, today, most people just go out and have fun and learn something about the environment. |
| In the United States, Earth Day is generally celebrated in schools, and teachers use the occasion to give lessons on environmental science, biology, and other relevant topics. Because Earth Day is so rooted in the idea of educating people about the environment, many of the events are educational in and of themselves. Oftentimes, large-scale events are held in parks and other public places that emphasize the importance of keeping green spaces for everybody to use. |
| Earth Day is on April 22nd in part because, for students in college, it would be right between spring break and summer vacation. This makes it easier to reach out to post-secondary students. |
| And now here's the answer to the quiz. |
| Do you know which environmental disaster is tied to the first Earth Day? |
| An oil spill in Santa Barbara, California in 1969 is credited for spurring the first Earth Day. The event was designed to be a grassroots one from the start and continues on in that tradition today. |
| How was this lesson? Did you learn something interesting? |
| Earth Day is celebrated around the world. How is it celebrated in your country? |
| Please leave a comment at EnglishClass101.com |
| Until next time! |
Comments
Hide