Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day. On this day, events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

The idea of this day began with Gaylord Nelson, who was inspired by the student anti-war movement and the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Nelson had come to a realization that if he could bring awareness to the public about air and water pollution, it would drive the public to enforce environmental protection on the nations political agenda.

Every year, on this day, about 20 million American take the streets, parks and auditoriums to bring awareness to maintain a healthy, sustainable environment. Colleges and universities all over America organize protests for different environmental issues such as fighting against oil spills, polluting factories, power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways and loss of wilderness.

Since 1970, there has been reported to be 5,000 environment groups in 184 different countries, each raising awareness to millions of crowds around the world.