EARTH DAY – WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Every year, on April 22nd, Earth Day is celebrated by over a billion people around the world. Going strong since the 70s, it’s a day dedicated to looking after the place we call home, and, for 52 years, has inspired action on a local, national and global level. In fact, today, it’s difficult to think back to a time when environmental issues were only recognised by a knowing few. So how exactly did Earth Day come about, and how did it become the global movement it is today?

Just like Faith In Nature, Earth Day was sparked by the early environmentalist spirit of the 1970s – a time when being eco-friendly was very far from the norm.

After a 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, Senator Gaylord Nelson and Pete McCloskey teamed up with activist Denis Hayes to spread the word about the dangers of air and water pollution – to which most had been oblivious.

They started out by planning educational campus ‘teach-ins’ for students and the public, but by reaching out to a broad range of organisations and faith groups - and renaming the event ‘Earth Day’ - they soon went national. Incredibly, the original Earth Day of 1970 was attended by 20 million Americans, making it (still to this day) the largest one-day protest the world has ever seen.

This was the start of a huge shift. Climate consciousness was (finally) on the rise, and the first Earth Day paved the way for the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act, to mention a few.

Cut to 1990, and Earth Day became a worldwide movement. This time, over 200 million people in 141 countries got together and put environmental issues - like the importance of recycling - at the top of the global agenda.

Nowadays, after more than 50 years in the making, Earth Day has become the largest environmental event in the world. And with the urgency of our climate crisis becoming clearer by the day, we need it more than ever.

We’ve been (nearly) 50 years in the making too. Back when we began, there wasn’t even a bandwagon to jump on. But, just like Earth Day, our beliefs have always kept us moving. And slowly but surely, our faith in nature became yours as well.

Take this Earth Day as your signal to spread the word, a time to take action, and a reminder to make any sustainable swaps you can. Today, to do our bit (and to help you do yours), we’re planting 10 trees with every order, thanks to our ongoing partnership with reforestation charity TreeSisters – read more about their work here.