Title
Special Recognition - Proclamation Recognizing April as Earth Month
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to recognize April as Earth Month.
Report
Issue:
Whether to recognize April as Earth Month in the City of Olympia.
Staff Contact:
Steve Hall, City Manager, 360.753.8244
Presenter(s):
Mayor Selby and City Council
Background and Analysis:
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 included an environmental teach-in that educated Americans about environmental and conservation issues.
20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to call for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized demonstrations and teach-ins against the deterioration of the environment.
Earth Day 1970 activated a bipartisan spirit that motivated the passing of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. Many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed.
Earth Day had reached into its status as the largest secular observance in the world, celebrated by more than a billion people every year, and a day of action that changes human behavior and provokes policy changes.
In Olympia, the Procession of the Species was created in 1995 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Earth Day. Local businesses, schools, environmental organizations and others have raised over 100 Earth flags in Olympia to unite those working in the interest of the planet, inspire participation, and build action through local activism and global environmental consciousness.
The Olympia community recognizes the entire month of April as Earth Month and urges other to do the same, particularly for the upcoming 50th Anniversary of the first Earth Day in 2020.
Attachments:
Proclamation