Wednesday marked the 50th celebration of Earth Day in more than 193 countries across the globe. This holiday was first created in 1970, to respond to the Santa Barbara Oil Spill that occurred in 1969 and resulted in spilling more than three million gallons of oil and the killing of more than 10,000 wildlife like dolphins and seabirds. The first Earth Day celebration occurred in the United States at thousands of colleges and universities where students protested in favor of environmental reform.

Now, Earth Day expands far beyond the United States, and around one billion people celebrate each year. Now, the goal of Earth Day is to educate and mobilize people about the environmental issues we are facing like air pollution, rising sea levels and human health. This will result in mass education, volunteering and advocacy for a cleaner earth.

This year, Earth Day celebrations will mostly occur online. Many environmental activists groups like Citizens Climate Lobby are hosting web conferences to discuss future plans for advocacy and to educate people about climate change. Most clean up projects will be held, but with social distancing in mind.

By marking the 50th celebration of Earth Day, we came together and educate ourselves about the environmental issues we are facing. Earth Day was created to protests a man-made disaster, but now goes beyond that to educate all about the importance of our home.