By: KC Nañola

Wow, the months just seem to be flying by and it's already April..?
New months present opportunities to write about new interesting topics. In April, Canada celebrates Earth Day. Now, what is Earth Day, you ask? And why do we celebrate it? Well, I'll just give you a brief summary.

As history tells it, Earth Day was conceived by US Senator Gaylord Nelson after his trip to Santa Barbara following a horrific oil spill off the coast in 1969. He was so outraged by what he saw that he went back to Washington and passed a bill designating April 22 as a national day to celebrate the Earth.

It was in the wake of this same tragedy that the Community Environmental Council was born and began working on ways to clean up our natural resources. Due to these events, Santa Barbara is considered the
birthplace of the environmental movement. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. The Community Environmental Council then organized a celebration again in 1990 and has done so every year since.

Earth Day began to become popular in the United States and around the world. The first Earth Day had participants and celebrants in two thousand colleges and universities, roughly ten thousand primary and secondary schools, and hundreds of communities across the United States. More importantly, it "brought 20 million Americans out into the spring sunshine for peaceful demonstrations in favor of environmental reform."

In Canada, it is celebrated nationwide. Here in Toronto on April 22, there will be a celebration at Downsview Park by planting 1,000 trees in the forest, thereby helping to create a sustainable community. I have heard there'll be various activities for people of all ages. Kids would be able to do or participate in activities such as, arts and crafts, face painting and more.

What a great way to appreciate Earth Day right here in Toronto. I, myself love nature and I fully support and believe in the idea of celebrating Earth Day and the preservation of our natural resources. So, I will for sure come and join the celebration at the Downsview Park not just for fun, but because I would like to help for the betterment of the planet.

I would like you to join as well. Please encourage your friends and family to attend. Think about it, not enough people are caring for the Earth now-a-days. They'll do things to harm the Earth without even knowing it. I'm not saying that we need to stop watching television, or walk everyday to work instead of taking the car. Face it, we couldn't live without these important things in our lives. So, just take one day, one day to simply help our community become a better living environment for all of us Torontonians and other people as well. If more people join, soon our whole world can become an even better place.

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About the writer: KC Nanola is a  grade 7 student of St. Lawrence School and is also in a gifted class program at St. Catherine School. She was our featured “Young Achiever” for August edition