Celebrated every April 22, Earth Day is the largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide. Described by American Heritage Magazine as "one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy," Earth Day made environmental protection a major national issue. The very first Earth Day was held in 1970 and was an event often credited with launching the modern American environmental movement. The principal organizers were Gaylord Nelson and Denis Hayes, both well known and respected public figures in the 70’s. Since then people all over the world have celebrated Earth Day each year on or about April 22 with a variety of activities and events designed to help bring environmental awareness to the forefront of general public consciousness.

The Rome/Floyd Recycling Center, local grocery stores and our students in the City, County and private schools have joined students all over the world for the last 4 years in participating in “The Earth Day Groceries Project”. The concept is simple yet powerful. Local grocery stores give students new brown paper bags. The students then decorate those bags with their own creative Earth Day messages and then return the bags to the stores by April 22 – Earth Day. Then the creatively decorated bags are used to put customer’s groceries into for the next week or so and the Earth Day message gets spread throughout the entire community.

This year, the Recycling Center has added an additional element to the program. We will make a donation of $.10 for every bag that is decorated and sent back to the store to help save a Rainforest through Kids For Saving Earth, an organization founded by Clinton Hill, an 11 year old who lived his short life displaying a courage and sensitivity to the world around him. He couldn't understand what we were doing to our planet. The poisons we dumped into our skies and rivers. The neglect we showed for our precious plants and animals. How, he wondered, could we do such things? Of course we all wonder. But that is where Clint was different. He didn't just wonder. He acted. He started a club for kids dedicated to peaceful Earth-saving Actions. He called it Kids for Saving Earth and after he died of cancer, his mother and father established Kids for Saving Earth(KSE) as a nonprofit organization with thousands of kids doing good Earthworks.  For more information, visit their web site at http://www.kidsforsavingearth.org/.

The mission of KSE is to educate, inspire, and empower children to protect the Earth's environment. KSE Worldwide provides action-oriented educational materials to kids, families, groups, classrooms and schools. Their rainforest program is in Costa Rica which has a stable, democratic government and a growing National Park System. This is important because this investment to protect Rainforests, with proper care, including education programs, trail systems, guards and fences, means that it is to stay a Rainforest. It is here in Costa Rica that Kids for Saving Earth Worldwide has chosen to support an area which has been designated as the Kids for Saving Earth Rainforest. This area is included in the Braulio Carrillo National Park, which is part of the Costa Rican National Park system.

Earth Day continues to be observed (this is its 34^th year) because it works. Earth Day broadens the base of support for environmental programs, rekindles public commitment, and involves a wide range of participants. Look for your special Earth Day bags at local stores during the next few weeks and enjoy the wonderful creativity of our local students.

Remember, you don’t need to wait for April 22 to help out the Earth. Earth Day is every day – to build a better future for the environment. We all need to be working toward solutions on a year-round basis.