Earth Day, 2010

Proclamation 8503 of April 21, 2010

Earth Day, 2010

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

In the fall of 1969, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson
announced plans for a national ``environmental teach-
in''--one day, each year, of action and advocacy for
the environment. His words rallied our Nation, and the
first Earth Day, as it became known, saw millions come
together to meet one of the greatest challenges of our
times: caring for our planet. What Senator Nelson and
the other organizers believed then, and what we still
believe today, is that our environment is a blessing we
share. Our future is inextricably bound to our planet's
future, and we must be good stewards of our home as
well as one another.

On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we come together
to reaffirm those beliefs. We have come far in these
past four decades. One year before the first Earth Day,
our Nation watched in horror as the polluted and
debris-choked Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught
fire. In response, a generation of Americans stepped
forward to demand progress. What Americans achieved in
the decades that followed has made our children
healthier, our water and air cleaner, and our planet
more livable.

We passed the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts,
established the Environmental Protection Agency, and
safeguarded treasured American landscapes. Americans
across our country have witnessed the impact of these
measures, including the people of Cleveland, where the
Cuyahoga River is cleaner than it has been in a
century.

We continue to build on this progress today. My
Administration has invested in clean energy and clean
water infrastructure across the country. We are also
committed to passing comprehensive energy and climate
legislation that will create jobs, reduce our
dependence on foreign oil, and cut carbon pollution.

We have more work to do, however, and change will not
come from Washington alone. The achievements of the
past were possible because ordinary Americans demanded
them, and meeting today's environmental challenges will
require a new generation to carry on Earth Day's cause.
From weatherizing our homes to planting trees in our
communities, there are countless ways for every
American, young and old, to get involved. I encourage
all Americans to visit WhiteHouse.gov/EarthDay for
information and resources to get started.

The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is an opportunity for
us to reflect on the legacy we have inherited from
previous generations, and the legacy that we will
bestow upon generations to come. Their future depends
on the action we take now, and we must not fail them.
Forty years from today, when our children and
grandchildren look back on what we did at this moment,
let them say that we, too, met the challenges of our
time and passed on a cleaner, healthier planet.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim April 22, 2010, as
Earth Day. I encourage all Americans to participate in
programs and

activities that will protect our environment and
contribute to a healthy, sustainable future.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.