Every year, the 22nd of April is observed as International Mother Earth Day. This holiday is designed to raise public awareness about the historic problems that Mother Earth currently faces and to encourage people to take action.

Deforestation and forest degradation, illegal fishing, pollution due to oil and gas development, overfishing, and the effects of climate change are all significant problems that can have not only a devastating effect on the environment but also on human civilization. That’s why we must all come together and work towards protecting our planet so that it will be here for generations to come.

The History of International Mother Earth Day

International Mother Earth Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2009 when they passed Resolution A/RES/63/278. This resolution was originally proposed by Bolivia and was endorsed by over 50 UN Member States.

This holiday also recognizes the responsibility of member states to honor the 1992 Rio Declaration. The purpose of this holiday is to strive for a balance between the economic and social needs of member states and the environment.

In the past few years, as climate change has accelerated, the focus has increasingly been placed on protecting the environment a little more than has been the case in the past.

Important Facts About the Environment

In our opinion, there can’t be a conversation about International Mother Earth Day without first talking about some of the stark realities that we’ve learned about this holiday. So come along with us as we go over the following facts.

• Every day, almost 30,000 trees are cut down. That’s approximately 10 million trees a year.
• Eight out of every ten marine mammals are at risk of choking on plastic.
• Plastic bags and other forms of plastic trash kill over a million sea animals every single year.
• Every 90 days, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the nation’s entire commercial air fleet.
• Supermarkets use about 60 million paper bags every year.
• A glass bottle can take over a million years to decompose.

Observing International Mother Earth Day

This is a day for everyone to get involved, and everyone can play a role during this day, no matter how small that role might be. It can be something as simple as picking up litter from in front of your home to organizing a beachcombing party to remove ocean plastic that has washed ashore. People can also spread the word about this holiday using the hashtag #InternationalMotherEarthDay on social media.