This past April 22nd we celebrated Earth Day, and what better way to celebrate than by dropping a song that will catch everyone’s ears. On April 18th, many celebrities that took part in the creation of the song “Earth” shared in their social accounts a small teaser of this music video.
The song was released by Rapper Lil Dicky, entitled ‘Earth,’ which features a young man taking action to raise awareness about environmental issues and how to protect the earth from pollution. In case you have not seen this music video, you should! The song is catchy, and the music video is beautifully animated. Besides, the voice cast for this music video includes some the best talent you can find out there, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Brendon Urie, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Adam Levine, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, John Legend, The Backstreet Boys, and Korean rapper Psy of ‘Gangnam Style’ fame.
So, why is this day so important that thirty artists chose to participate in creating this witty song and music video?
First, let us back it up a little. The idea for a national day to focus on the environment came to the Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, a U.S Senator from Wisconsin, in response to the horrible effects that the massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California in 1969 caused.
Nelson decided to use the influence of an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution. He proposed th idea with the purpose to teach the public how to understand what they could do to protect the environment.
Earth Day was founded on April 22, 1970, and this marked the beginning of millions of Americans taking the streets to fight against oil spills, polluting factories, toxic dumps, and the extinction of wildlife. But, why April 22?
According to Nelson, he chose this date because it was after most schools had spring break and before final weeks set in. It is also after Easter and Passover.
Earth Day may have begun in the U.S., but today it is a global phenomenon and is celebrated in every part of the world. Thanks to Denis Hayes, who is the national organizer of Earth Day events, the U.S has helped spread this movement internationally.
In 1990, he coordinated Earth Day events in 141 countries in the same way that he did in the U.S. More than 200 million people around the world joined this cause and took part in these events.
In case you have missed what events have taken place since Earth Day started (which are quite a few), here is a list of some of them:
- Climate Change in 2000 – focused on the climate change issue. 184 countries took part in celebrating in millennial Earth Day festivities. This mass effort celebration allowed many people to hear about global warming and the side effects for the first time.
- Plant Trees Not Bombs in 2011 – To celebrate Earth Day, 28 million trees were planted in Afghanistan as a part of the campaign “Plant Trees Not Bombs.”
- Bikes Across Beijing in 2012 – In China, more than 100,000 people rode bikes to raise awareness about climate change. This set an example for small actions that can lower greatly the carbon dioxide emission and save fuel burned by cars.
- The Official Earth Anthem in 2013 – Our beautiful earth has an anthem. Indian poet and diplomat Abhay Kumar wrote a piece called the “Earth Anthem” to honor the planet and all its inhabitants. This anthem has been translated in all the official UN languages, including English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Hindi, Nepali, and Chinese.
This should inspire us to join efforts that are helping the Earth to become a better place for future generations.
We do not need to do something big, we just need to do something.
