Title
Special Recognition - Proclamation Recognizing Earth Month
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Recognize April as Earth Month in the City of Olympia.
Report
Issue:
Whether to recognize April as Earth Month in the City of Olympia.
Staff Contact:
Susan Grisham, Assistant to the City Manager, 360.753.8244
Presenter(s):
Anthony Brock, Principal, Marshall Middle School
Tom Condon, Marshall Middle School, Citizen Science Institute Instructor
Marshall Middle School, Citizen Science Institute Student Representatives
Dave Sederberg, Earthbound Productions
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.
Each year, the City of Olympia recognizes the entire month of April as Earth Month and urges others to do the same.
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.
Dave Sederberg...
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