Remembering Earth Day: when thoughts turned to conservation

First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of activities coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG (formerly Earth Day Network) including one billion people in more than 193 countries.
The official theme for 2024 is ‘Planet vs. Plastics’ and next year will be the 55th anniversary.
In Cumbria, children have enjoyed getting creative as a fun way of celebrating the day, and our main picture is of an afternoon craft session at Tullie House museum in 2010. Artist Julian Longcake and his daughter Tilia, five, are putting the finishing touches to a ‘Recycle Tree’ using only secondhand materials.

The tree is also shown in its full glory, with Alexander Acton, three, from Scotby adding a flower to it.

Happy Tots Day Nursery members Sophie Williams and Tom Stephens celebrated Earth Day in 2009 by planting a Celosia plant at its Barrow base.

Previously in 2004, nursery youngsters had remembered Mother Earth by planting a tree.

TV wildlife presenter Nigel Marven called on schools to take part in a mass lesson to help create a healthier planet as part of charity Healthy Planet’s Earth Day initiative.

And Ruby Render decorated a tile at the Earth, Wind and Fire Day at Wylam First School.

Entertainment on the day, in 2011, was provided by the school choir.

A delightful picture from 2007 shows the then Pope, Benedict XVI, shaking hands with a girl after warning that the planet risked ‘irreversible’ decline from environmentally unsustainable development. He urged young Catholics to take the lead in taking better care of the Earth and its precious resources.

The last image is of Louise Sullivan and April Graham at their clothing stall Inspired Earth at the Global Journey Day in 2007.