The equinoctial Earth Day is celebrated on the March equinox (around March
20) to mark the precise moment of astronomical mid-spring in the Northern Hemisphere,
and of astronomical mid-autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. An equinox in astronomy
is that moment in time (not a whole day) when the center of the Sun can be observed
to be directly "above" the Earth's equator, occurring around March
20 and September 23 each year. In most cultures the equinoxes and solstices
are considered to start or separate the seasons.
John McConnell first introduced the idea of a global holiday called "Earth
Day" at a UNESCO Conference on the Environment in 1969. The first Earth
Day proclamation was issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto on March 21,
1970. Celebrations were held in various cities including San Francisco, in Davis,
California with a multi-day street party, and elsewhere. UN Secretary-General
U Thant supported McConnell's global initiative to celebrate this annual event,
and on February 26, 1971, he signed a proclamation to that effect, saying:
May there only be peaceful and cheerful Earth Days to come for our beautiful
Spaceship Earth as it continues to spin and circle in frigid space with its
warm and fragile cargo of animate life.
Secretary General Waldheim observed Earth Day with similar ceremonies on the
March equinox in 1972, and the United Nations Earth Day ceremony has continued
each year since on the day of the March equinox (the United Nations also works
with organizers of the April 22 global event). Margaret Mead added her support
for the equinox Earth Day, and in 1978 declared:
"EARTH DAY is the first holy day which transcends all national borders,
yet preserves all geographical integrities, spans mountains and oceans and time
belts, and yet brings people all over the world into one resonating accord,
is devoted to the preservation of the harmony in nature and yet draws upon the
triumphs of technology, the measurement of time, and instantaneous communication
through space.
EARTH DAY draws on astronomical phenomena in a new way – which is also
the most ancient way – using the vernal Equinox, the time when the Sun
crosses the equator making night and day of equal length in all parts of the
Earth. To this point in the annual calendar, EARTH DAY attaches no local or
divisive set of symbols, no statement of the truth or superiority of one way
of life over another. But the selection of the March Equinox makes planetary
observance of a shared event possible, and a flag which shows the Earth as seen
from space appropriate."
At the moment of the equinox, it is traditional to observe Earth Day by ringing
the Japanese Peace Bell, a bell donated by Japan to the United Nations. Over
the years celebrations have occurred in various places worldwide at the same
time as the celebration at the UN. On March 20, 2008, in addition to the ceremony
at the United Nations, ceremonies were held in New Zealand, and bells were sounded
in California, Vienna, Paris, Lithuania, Tokyo and many other locations. The
equinox Earth Day at the UN is organized by the Earth Society Foundation.
