Why Was April 22nd Selected For Arbor/Earth Day?
There are two different reasons April 22nd was chosen as the day to celebrate Arbor Day and Earth Day. Arbor Day: is celebrated on April 22 for a different reason. Arbor Day’s founder, J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska, was a strong advocate of getting communities involved in planting trees on what was once a “treeless plain.” He was passionate about this cause that he proposed a tree-planting holiday at a meeting of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture in 1872. It was first observed April 10, 1872 and was first officially proclaimed by the young state’s Gov. Robert W. Furnas in 1874. In 1855, it became a legal holiday in Nebraska and April 22, Morton’s birthday, was selected for the permanent observance of the holiday. Earth Day: Former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson was Earth Day’s co-founder and the date April 22 was selected because he led an important environmental demonstration on that day in 1970. The demonstration was effective in helping to influence the development and implement
