Earth Day Events Around the World

Earth Day Events Around the World



   
April 2007 -   On Sunday April 22, 
singer Sheryl Crow headlines an Earth Day service at 
Washington National Cathedral. Earth Day Network and Green 
Apple Music & Arts Festival offer music all weekend in New 
York, San Francisco and Chicago. Award-winning singer and 
cancer survivor Sheryl Crow shares 
the Washington National Cathedral Earth Day service with 
Richard Cizik, vice president of government affairs for the 
National Association of Evangelicals. 
A bike ride to support eco-transport in Moscow, a "Bye-bye 
throw-away culture!" week in Beijing, and an underwater clean 
up in Egypt are a few of the thousands of Earth Day events 
happening around the world. 
In Washington, DC, a climate action outreach to legislators 
began on Monday with a news conference at the National Press 
Club. 
"This week, April 16th through the 20th, Earth Day Network is 
bringing new and diverse voices from across America to Capitol 
Hill to catalyze immediate action on climate," said EDN 
President Kathleen Rogers. "We want to talk about the health, 
economic, and social impacts of climate and our proposed 
solutions for inclusion in climate legislation." 
The Earth Day Network aims to persuade lawmakers that a 
drastic cut in greenhouse gas emissions is required to avert 
the worst effects of global warming - 80 percent below 1990 
levels by 2050. 
In New York City, the Earth Day presence has been felt since 
Sunday at Grand Central Terminal where many thousands of rail 
commuters come and go every day. 
Giant Earth images illuminate the historic landmark's soaring 
main concourse with environmentally themed quotes, messages, 
photographs and graphic images contributed by artists such as 
Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenvironment newstein, Romero Britto and 
Rafal Olbinski. The show, projected onto two of the north 
columns in the concourse, is running 10 hours a day. 
Visitors to the Earth Fair at Grand Central Terminal in New 
York. 
Today an Earth Fair opened at Grand Central showcasing 
environmentalists, youth, green companies, artists and musical 
performers with interactive exhibits that aim to educate and 
inspire New Yorkers to be conscious consumers and more active 
citizenvironment news. 
Last year, it was the biggest Earth Day celebration in 
America. This year the Green Apple Music & Arts Festival is 
going to be much bigger. 
From today through Sunday, 200 performances will take place in 
over 60 top music venues in New York City, Chicago and San 
Francisco. 
Acts span all genres and include Dave Matthews and Tim 
Reynolds, American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, top children's 
act Laurie Berkner, a reunion by jazz fusion band Fat Mama, 
live electronica band The Disco Biscuits, The Decemberists, 
and reggae with Stephen Marley's band featuring Junior Gong. 
On Earth Day, the Green Apple Music & Arts Festival will host 
large free events for all ages in the participating cities' 
finest parks including Central Park, the Lincoln Park Zoo, and 
Golden Gate Park. 
In Chicago, the Green Festival Saturday and Sunday features 
more than 300 exhibits in the nation's largest eco-mall. 
Visitors can shop for everything from eco-fashion, natural 
home, and health products to solar panels and fair trade gifts 
and crafts. 
A joint production of Global Exchange and Co-op America, the 
Green Festival features 150 speakers on five stages including 
Amy Goodman, host of the radio program "Democracy Now!" Greg 
Palast, author of "Armed Madhouse," and Frances Moore Lappé, 
author of "Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet." 
Kids dramatize Earth Day with puppets in a Kids Can Make a 
Difference project sponsored by Michigan's Western Upper 
Peninsula Center for Science, Mathematics and Environmental 
Education at Michigan Technical University. 
Across the country people are picking up litter, recycling 
obsolete electronics, creating Earth Day art and videos, 
showing films, attending concerts, holding block parties and 
fashion shows - in fact 10,084 events of all kinds are taking 
place in the United States. 
Around the world, many thousands of events are being held to 
honor the Earth this weekend and on into May and June. 
In London, England, the Savoy Hotel and 
Simpson's-in-the-Strand are joining in the Earth Day 
celebrations by creating a special cocktail which will be 
available in the American Bar and Knight's Bar over the 
weekend. Called a "Grass Roots" the drink is flavored with 
Polish hillside grass, better known as Bison Grass Vodka. 
On Friday, the environmental charity Thames21 cleaned up the 
foreshore of the River Thames. 
The London organization Waterwise has teamed up with Water 
Group Promotions to give away free water saving shower timers 
during Earthweek. The offer is available to the first 5,000 
people to log on to the Waterwise website, 
www.waterwise.org.uk, on Monday. 
Poster advertising the Critical Mass bike ride in Moscow on 
Sunday to celebrate Earth Day. Moscow police broke up a 
Critical Mass ride in 2005. 
In Moscow, the group Carfree Russia is holding a festival 
Sunday that brings together people who love nature, 
bike-riding, and music and are eager to do something good for 
the environment. A Critical Mass bike ride in support of 
eco-transport finishes in Izmailovski Park where the festival 
continues with a concert at the park's solar stage, and 
organic, vegetarian food. 
Elsewhere in Moscow, the group Airis Pro is holding an Earth 
Day festival within the framework of Moscow Midterm Eco 
Programme 2007-2008 and the city-sponsored Year of the Child 
2007. Held at the historical monument Park Pobedy, this event 
is designed to bring public attention to global ecological 
issues. 
In China's capital city, the group Global Village of Beijing 
will be busy through April 28 with "Bye-bye throw-away 
culture" Week. The group aims to convince shoppers to stop 
using so many plastic bags. It is estimated that Beijing 
consumes nearly 10 billion plastic bags annually, the 
equivalent of some 27 million bags per day. 
"With the abundance of goods bought and sold in todays culture 
there is much waste generated unnecessarily without much 
attention. We want to help make people aware of the impact 
their lifestyle has on the environment and call upon them to 
reduce that impact by choosing a greener lifestyle," the group 
says. 
On Earth Day, Chinese Central Television, Channel 1 will air a 
special TV program introducing stories and examples of climate 
change solutions in China. 
In Egypt, an underwater reef cleanup is planned at the city of 
Sharm el-Sheikh on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. 
In addition, the Sol Y Mar Club Makadi in Hurghada, Egypt will 
hold a screening of Al Gore's climate change documentary "An 
Inconvenient Truth" with instant Arabic translation for 200 
staff members of the resort, "to increase awareness and 
understanding on what is actually happening," said the 
resort's management. 
In Iran, the Center for the Advancement of Rural Women is 
holding a village cleanup from today through Wednesday in 
conjunction with Global Youth Service Day and Earth Day. The 
Village Clean Up! initiative is designed to educate and 
mobilize youth, as well as raise environmental awareness about 
the impacts of garbage, especially plastics on the ecosystem. 
In Afghanistan's capital city Kabul, university students will 
carry out a "landmark demonstration" for Earth Day that 
includes participants from national and international 
organizations working for environment protection, concerned 
government authorities, university teachers and local council 
representatives. 
To find or list an event, visit the Earth Day Network website 
at: http://www.earthday.net 

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