Every year on April 22, people around the world come together for Earth Day to show some love to our planet and take real action to protect it. Today, Earth Day continues to rally more than one billion people globally around environmental awareness and sustainability.

Dig into more facts about Earth Day—how it all started, the UN’s take—and get insight on how to celebrate it at home and at work.

Digging into Earth Day

Think of Earth Day as a worldwide check-in with our home planet—a chance to focus on cleaner air, healthier water, thriving wildlife, and smarter ways to live and work. It’s all about moving from simply being eco-conscious to actually changing habits, systems, and communities so the environment can not only recover, but thrive.

How Earth Day got started

After a catastrophic oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson pushed for a national day of environmental teach-ins to make pollution and ecosystem damage impossible to ignore. That first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970, and sparked landmark environmental protections in the U.S., including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act.

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Quick Earth Day facts

More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, from neighborhood cleanups to policy advocacy.

The official Earth Day song, “Earth Day Anthem,” was written by Indian poet Abhay Kumar in 2013 and is used around the globe at Earth Day events.

Google rolled out its first Earth Day Doodle in 2001, and continues to feature Earth-themed designs each April 22 to raise awareness.

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From one country to worldwide

By 1990, Earth Day had evolved into a truly global movement with an international campaign that mobilized about 200 million people across 141 countries to stand up for the planet. Today, Earth Day is observed in more than 190 countries and is considered one of the largest civic events in the world, connecting local action to global impact. The United Nations formally joined in on the celebration in 2000 and, in 2009, the UN General Assembly designated April 22 as “International Mother Earth Day.” The name emphasizes our deep interdependence with Earth’s ecosystems and calls on every country to promote harmony with nature, not just short-term economic growth.

Easy ways to celebrate at home

You don’t have to overhaul your entire lifestyle to make Earth Day count—small shifts add up fast when millions of people do them together. Try one or two of these at home:

• Head outside and pick up trash in your neighborhood, along a trail, or at a local park.

• Hang laundry to dry in the fresh air instead of running the dryer.

• Buy seasonal foods from nearby farms, markets, or Community Supported Agriculture (also known as CSAs) to cut down on transport and packaging.

• Go geocaching or take a nature walk and learn the names of local plants and birds.

• Plant native flowers, grasses, or shrubs to create a pollinator-friendly patch for bees and butterflies.

• Change to reusable or low-waste kitchen and cleaning products to reduce plastic and chemicals.

Simple ways to celebrate at work

Workplaces can turn Earth Day into a team effort that boosts morale and does some real good at the same time. Here are a few easy ideas to get started:

• Plant native trees or shrubs around your building or in nearby community spaces.

• Organize a lunch-and-learn or workshop on sustainability topics like energy use, recycling, or climate action.

• Set up or refresh an office recycling and composting system with clear, simple signs.

• Host a fundraiser, volunteer day, or donation drive for an environmental nonprofit your team cares about.

• Plan a walking meeting outdoors or a group outing to a local trail, park, or waterfall to reconnect with nature.

Earth Day 2026 gives us another chance to remember that every action—no matter how small—can help restore and protect the only home we have.