Graphic by Je-Won Im ’23/The Choate News
Across the state of Connecticut, local towns and committees have worked hard these past months to organize community events in celebration of Earth Day. On April 23, the Town of Branford and Living Wisely and Well on Planet Earth co-sponsored “Spring Into Action,” an Earth Day fair on the Branford Green that occurred from 9 a.m. to noon. “One of the themes of the fair was to celebrate the many steps already taken by the Town of Branford to reduce its carbon footprint,” explained Ms. Margaret Sipple, a member of the committee responsible for organizing the fair.
This year’s Branford Clean Up Day also took place on April 23. Using trash bags, litter pickers, gloves, and safety glasses provided by the Environment Commission, residents spread out across town to remove litter.
“I hope the event raises awareness of how much trash is strewn about, which might lead to individuals disposing of litter responsibly and might lead to our community addressing litter as a community issue,” said Ms. Heather Sweeney, a member of the Branford Conservation Commission. She further expanded on the importance of celebrating Earth Day, stating, “I think it’s easy to slip out of good habits, including habits that are good for our planet. I think having an annual day reminding us to do better environmentally with our choices is very powerful.”
The fair included a myriad of engaging activities and informative resources for all age groups. Volunteer organizations, environmental-related companies, and town commissions, such as the Branford Garden Club and the Inland Wetlands Commission, were present to showcase their contributions to reducing the carbon footprint. In addition to the exhibits, the committee also designed four activities specifically intended for younger attendees. Children had the option to make art projects using recycled materials, play earth-related games, compete in an environmental challenge presented by the Connecticut Experiential Learning Center (CELC), or participate in a toy swap. For the toy swap, Ms. Sipple noted, “My husband served as Mr. Fix It so that if anybody borrowed broken toys, they could get it fixed. The main idea was to get children to get used to the idea that they could have a lot of fun with a previously used toy.”
While saving the planet has been a consistent theme of the fair for the past decade, the committee placed a great emphasis on publicizing the town’s accomplishments this year. “We believe that if people can focus on solutions and celebrate what’s already been done, they’ll feel energized to do more … That was definitely a new goal of this fair,” said Ms. Sipple.
Similarly, the Office of the Mayor of Hamden and the town’s Earth Day Committee also co-hosted their annual Earth Day celebration at Hamden Middle School.
“Earth Day has been important for over 50 years. Now we are in an environmental crisis, and paying attention to our environment is a matter of life and death on our planet as we know it … Every day should be Earth Day in our thoughts and hearts,” Ms. Hoffman said.
This year, the Earth Day Committee planned a series of engaging events, including presentations by nearly 60 social and environmental exhibitors to educate and inspire residents to live in harmony with the earth. Other popular activities included high school student environmental activism training, the Youth Climate Movement, and the Magitricity-Environmental magic show with Cyril the Sorcerer.
Every year on April 22, countries worldwide celebrate Earth Day in support of environmental protection. Originating in 1970, Earth Day gained traction as more people in the United States and across the globe became aware of the environmental crises humans have caused. Resulting from the lack of legal mechanisms in place to protect the environment, catastrophic events, such as the 1969 fire on Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, helped shed light on the problem of air and water pollution.
Inspired by the idea of anti-Vietnam War “teach-ins” taking place across college campuses in the United States, Senator and former Governor of Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson announced the concept of an ‘Earth Day’ in the fall of 1969. Nelson received mass support from the public on his plan for a large-scale, grassroots environmental demonstration “to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda.” On April 22, 1970, Nelson officially established the first Earth Day, when an estimated 20 million people nationwide participated in inaugural events at tens of thousands of sites across the United States.
Now, as the ravages of climate change are becoming more visible with each passing day, it is even more important to celebrate Earth Day. “Progress has slowed, climate change impacts grow, and our adversaries have become better financed,” stressed Ms. Kathleen Rogers, the president of Earth Day Network, in an interview in 2020. “We find ourselves today in a world facing global threats that demand a unified global response.”
