In the first part of the last century until around the 50s or 60s, no one thought it necessary to celebrate Earth Day because mankind was unaware of the consequences of its behavior on the planet Earth. Until the second half of the last century, no one was simply aware that there was any need to use fewer resources and fuel and that slowly many things might become extinct. What’s more the thought that with growing pollution, cutting of trees, and pushing waste in rivers, slowly we are making this mother earth a toxic place never came into anyone’s mind.
It was in 2009 that the General Assembly decided that 22 April would be celebrated as International Mother Earth Day and accordingly a resolution was passed to support it. However, it took a long time for the United Nations to pass this resolution.
Global awareness began in 70s
The roots for the same goes back to the 1970s when no one was thinking about environmental protection and hence it was not a priority for many national political agendas. However, in 1972, the UN Conference that was held in Stockholm on Human Environment had a few discussions on global awareness and how people across the world are interdependent on each other as well as on other living species and the planet.
The conference announced that June 5 World Environment Day will be celebrated and also the organisation will run a UN Environment Programme.
Why is International Mother Earth Day observed?
The Day is observed on 22 April every year because to date our planet has lost many animal and plant species whereas around 1 million species of both plants and animals are on the verge of extinction solely because encroachment and aggressive human activity have destroyed their habitat .
In turn, it is now causing outbreaks of numerous deadly diseases that are coming from wildlife. The day aims to make people aware of all such situations so that they can contribute towards reversing the environmental damage by protecting the existing ecosystems.