At A Grade Ahead of Central Ohio, spring has sprung! We love this season that brings warm weather and beautiful flowers. It’s the perfect time of year to honor our relationship with Mother Earth. In fact, every spring on April 22nd, countries across the globe celebrate Earth Day. Recognized in nearly 200 countries, this international event promotes environmental awareness and sustainability. It is a great opportunity to get outside and connect with nature. Join us in this blog post where we will explore the history of Earth Day. We will also share how A Grade Ahead strives to be eco-friendly all year round.
The History of Earth Day
While the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, it has an interesting history dating back to the early 1960s. One of the first key milestones happened in 1962 when Rachel Carson published her book Silent Spring. According to Rachelcarson.org, the book “initiated the contemporary environmental movement.” The website describes Silent Spring as “a true story” about pesticides causing “damage to wildlife, birds, bees, agricultural animals, domestic pets, and even humans.” In a quote from the book, Carson states:
“Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape, but man has displayed a passion for simplifying it. Thus he undoes the built-in checks and balances by which nature holds the species within bounds.”
Carson’s book sparked a movement. As is always the case in revolutionary thinking, the book also caused controversy. According to Wikipedia, “In the weeks before the September 27, 1962, publication, there was strong opposition to Silent Spring from the chemical industry.” It also explains how Monsanto, an agricultural biotechnology and chemical corporation, retaliated. Wikipedia says “Monsanto published 5,000 copies of a parody called The Desolate Year (1962) which projected a world of famine and disease caused by banning pesticides.” In a world of trying to be planet-friendly, there are often two sides to the same coin.
Fast forward six years to 1969 when Gaylord Nelson, a US senator from Wisconsin, proposed a national environmental teach-in. On the heels of the Santa Barabara oil spill that occurred in January 1969, Senator Nelson organized the first Earth Day Celebration. Over 20 million people across the United States participated in the inaugural event on April 22, 1970. Later that year, President Nixon founded the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and signed the Clean Air Act. In 1972 Congress passed the Clean Water Act. The 1970s and 1980s continued to see great awareness and activism regarding the environment.
Earth Day in the Early 90s to Present
By 1990, Earth Day became a worldwide celebration recognized by 141 countries and observed by nearly 200 million people. At the turn of the century, the environmental focus shifted to global warming and clean energy. With the advent of the internet, thousands of environmental groups from across the globe were able to connect. In 2010, the Earth Day Network launched A Billion Acts of Green: an effort to collect one billion individual acts of environmental service and help people commit to living more sustainably. According to earthday.org, “the campaign was a massive success. On Earth Day 2012, the Earth Day Network reached its goal of one billion Acts of Green, completing the world’s largest environmental service campaign.”
While protecting the Earth’s environment is a complicated and rocky road, we continue to celebrate Earth Day in 2026. This April 22nd, over one billion people in almost 200 countries observed this day dedicated to nature. The history of Earth Day and environmental activism is long and complex. Our individual response, however, can be as simple as turning off screens and taking a walk outside.
How A Grade Ahead is Celebrating
At A Grade Ahead, we honor Mother Earth all year round. At our Central Ohio headquarters, we make a conscious effort to care for the environment by recycling materials and reusing supplies. I’ve experienced this first-hand while preparing for our summer camps. A Grade Ahead does an amazing job of reducing, reusing and recycling for our summer enrichment program. We repurpose items like paper towel rolls and shoe boxes to make educational crafts for our camp activities. Repurposing simple items like this is an easy way to be eco-friendly. Did you know one of our camps is a week-long science course called Eco-Explorers? Your child can learn all about the Earth’s environment and eco systems! This is a great way to get your child interested in science and nature.
Staying Involved
Our AGA staff also loves to share tips and tricks about how we connect with nature. Several staff members, for example, grow their own gardens. From building beautiful flower beds to planting fruit and vegetables, curating gardens takes dedication, time, and patience. Nicole Acevedo, AGA’s teacher manager, grows flowers and vegetables in her home garden. AGA’s HR manager, Nichole Armstrong, is encouraging staff members to start gardening by offering monthly seed packets. For the month of March, staff members were offered lettuce and lavender seeds. For April, sage and marigold seeds are available for staff to pick up at the office.
Nichole Armstrong has also shown her love for our planet by participating in Sustainable Saturday in Dublin, Ohio. Nichole said, “This is a huge event that helps get rid of some items around your house. You do not have to be a resident of Dublin to drop off stuff. I have a bag of clothes that are holey or ruined to drop off, along with some expired fire extinguishers and more. They collect a lot more than they normally do for this one day.” Instead of tossing these items into the trash, Nichole has made sure they will be disposed of properly.
For more information about Dublin’s annual event, check out this website.
From in-house recycling, to at-home gardens, to community sustainability, A Grade Ahead always strives to be eco-friendly. Does your family celebrate Earth Day? What are some of your favorite ways to connect with nature? We would love to hear from you in the comments below!
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Author: Amanda Hutson, Curriculum Assistant at A Grade Ahead
