Image: earthday.org

Earth Day turns 40 on April 22. Frisco residents will be part of a celebration that has grown from local activism in most major U.S. cities to an event shared by hundreds of millions of concerned citizens around the globe.

In 1969, Senator Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from Wisconsin, developed the idea for Earth Day. Nelson envisioned a large-scale demonstration “to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda.”

Nelson unveiled the concept at a conference in Seattle in the fall of 1969.  On April 22, 1970, rallies were held in most major American cities.

In New York City, Mayor John Lindsay closed off a portion of Fifth Avenue to traffic for several hours. In Washington, D.C., thousands of people listened to speeches and performances by singer Pete Seeger and others. Congress recessed to allow members to address their constituents at Earth Day events.

In the 40 years since, Earth Day celebrations have continued to grow. In 1990, the event went worldwide, with 200 million people in over 140 nations participating, according to the Earth Day Network, a nonprofit organization that coordinates Earth Day activities. This year, the EDN expects more than one billion people to participate around the world.

In Frisco, the big Earth Day event is Saturday’s “Clean It & Green It,” the annual city-wide cleanup event at the IKEA parking lot, 7171 IKEA Dr. This year, CI&GI will be held in conjunction with the spring “Chunk Your Junk.”

Here’s the schedule for the day:

Registration/Check-In: 8:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
Citywide Cleanup: 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Earth Day Celebration: 11:15 a.m.

For more information, and to find out how you can get involved, click here.