More than a billion people in 192 countries participate in Earth Day activities each year. In the United States, tens of thousands of people will descend on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., from noon to 7:00 p.m. for the Earth Day Network's Mobilize the Earth rally. In addition to featuring appearances from Cheap Trick, Dave Mason, Kicking Daisies and The Explorers Club, the event will round up additional pledges for the Billion Acts of Green campaign.
A Billion Acts of Green encourages individuals and companies to pledge to take the greener route in their daily lives. Acts can range from using less electricity, buying more local food, taking shorter showers, planting trees or caring for plants, using energy-efficient light bulbs, biking to work, organizing Earth Day events and much more.
"At the event on the Mall, those in attendance and our partners all over the world are going to pitch in for the final push to reach A Billion Acts of Green, and I'm confident that with their help we're going to blow that goal out of the water," said Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network. "Once we reach a billion, we're going to take them all to the UN Earth Summit in Rio this year and make sure that world leaders hear our voices. It's hard to ignore a billion actions."
As of this writing, the Earth Day Network has racked up 987,884,599 environmental pledges from individuals, businesses, governments and civic organizations. Help them reach their goal of a billion by adding your own pledge at http://act.earthday.org.
Mobilize the Earth
At the National Mall Earth Day event, speakers will include EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Atlanta Falcons fullback Ovie Mughelli, Indy Car driver Leilani Münter, members of Congress, representatives from U.S. government agencies and the heads of major national and international NGOs. Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, also will speak.
"From pivotal elections being held around the world, to the UN Earth Summit in June, to the need to kick start the global economy, 2012 is an extremely important year that will set the global agenda for a long time – but environmental issues are on squarely the backburner for world leaders," said Rogers. "That's why we're coming together on the Mall and standing in solidarity with millions of people at thousands of Earth Day events around the world. We'll Mobilize the Earth to call for environmental issues to become a top priority for world leaders in this pivotal year."
The entire rally will be streamed live at http://www.earthday.org.