世界地球日
世界地球日即每年的4月22日，是一项世界性的环境保护运动。最早的地球日活动是1970年代于美国校园兴起的环保运动，1990年代这项活动从美国走向世界，成为全世界环保主义者的节日和环境保护宣传日，在这天不同国籍的人们以各自不同的方式宣传和实践环境保护的观念。
[编辑] 起源与发展
最初的地球日选择在春分节气，这一天在全世界的任何一个角落昼夜时长均相等，阳光可以同时照耀在南极点和北极点上，这代表了世界的平等，同时也象征着人类要抛开彼此间的争议和不同，和谐共存。传统上在很多国家都有庆祝春分节气的传统。早期联合国也在每年的春分举行世界地球日的活动。
1969年美国民主党参议员盖洛德·尼尔森在美国各大学举行演讲会，筹划在次年的4月22日组织以反对越战为主题的校园运动，但是在1969年西雅图召开的筹备会议上，活动的组织者之一，哈佛大学法学院学生丹尼斯·海斯提出将运动定位在于全美国的，以环境保护为主题的草根运动。1970年4月22日在美国各地总共有超过2000万人参与了环境保护运动，这次运动的成功使得在每年4月22日组织环保活动成为一种惯例，在美国地球日这个名号也随之从春分日移动到了4月22日，地球日的主题也转而更加趋向于环境保护。
现在人们普遍认为1970年4月22日在美国发生的第一届地球日活动是世界上最早的大规模群众性环境保护运动，这次运动催化了人类现代环境保护运动的发展，促进了发达国家环境保护立法的进程，并且直接催生了1972年联合国第一次人类环境会议。而1970年活动的组织者丹尼斯·海斯也被人们称为地球日之父。
由于环境保护运动在世界范围内的兴起，1990年第二十届地球日活动的组织者希望将这一美国国内的运动向世界范围扩展，为此他们致函中国、美国、英国三国领导人和联合国秘书长，呼吁他们采取措施，举行会晤缔结关于环境保护议题的多边协议，协力扭转环境恶化的趋势；同时地球日的组织者还呼吁全世界愿意致力环境保护的政府在1990年4月22日各自动员国民开展环境保护运动。地球日活动组织者的倡议得到了亚洲、非洲、美洲、欧洲许多国家和众多国际性组织的响应，最终在1990年4月22日全世界有来自140多个国家的逾2亿人参与了地球日的活动。从此世界地球日成为全球性的环境保护运动。
[编辑] 近年世界地球日中国确定的主题
1997年：“保护地球资源与环境”；
1998年：“环境、经济与社会、可持续发展”；
1999年：“防治地质灾害”；
2000年：“清洁能源，中国活动的主题是：地质环境保护”；
2001年：“地质遗产保护”；
2002年：“善待地球”；
2003年：“善待地球，保护环境”；
2004年：“善待地球——科学发展”；
2005年：“善待地球——科学发展，构建和谐”；
2006年：“善待地球——珍惜资源、持续发展”；
2007年：“善待地球——从节约资源做起”。
国家地理频道在4月22日推出了一些特备节目，似乎有不少好看的，大家可以留意一下哦
节目表：
http://www.ngcasia.com/watch/default.aspx?currentdate=08_04_22
Tuesday April 22
12.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: MEGACITIES: SAO PAULO
It’s the second largest city on earth – and the most important city in Brazil. More than 10 million people live in Sao Paulo. But fitting people in isn’t a problem. The challenge is the city’s trash. Every day, Sao Paulo generates 14,000 tons of garbage -...
1.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: SCRAP HOUSE
Can a beautiful home, that meets strict building codes, be built completely from scrap materials and salvage… using nothing new? The stakes are high. A team of architects, salvagers, and builders has decided to make it happen. They have one month and thou...
2.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: THAILAND: JEWELS OF THE ORIENT
Brilliant coral reef shelters bustling aquatic life while sharks, manta rays and octopus continue their timeless ballet in this tropical Living Eden.
3.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: STRANGE DAYS ON PLANET EARTH: INVADERS
Strange transformations are taking place around the world because of alien invaders. In Tokyo Bay, General Douglas MacArthur presided over Japan’s formal surrender in World War II. To control the termites, scientists hope to exploit one aspect of the inse...
4.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: GARBAGE MOUNTAIN
Mammoth machines. Trash piled twenty stories high. Man and technology in a battle against a tidal wave of waste. Uncover the gargantuan world of garbage at America's largest active Mega-Dump - Puente Hills, CA. Some landfills take in 2,000 tons of trash a...
5.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: GREEN CAR
As automobiles crowd the planet adding more and more greenhouse gasses many of us want to help by driving greener and cleaner. To help us sort out what we can do host Kamal Sidhu and eco expert zookeeper, Hayden Turner, take us on a tour of what's hot and...
6.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: GLACIER BAY: ALASKA'S WILD COAST
Join us off the southeast coast of Australia - Tasmania. Tasmania is an Eden of magnificent forests and also home to the Tasmanian Devil.
7.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: STRANGE DAYS ON PLANET EARTH: PREDATORS
Deep in the wilds of Venezuela, the natural order is being turned inside out. Miles of savanna and verdant forest have given way to small, scattered islands. What’s driving this bizarre transformation? With the reefs suffocating under shaggy layers of a...
8.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: GABON TRIUMPH OF THE WILD
Africa. The first continent to boil to the surface when the earth took solid form. The place where the first tiny apes dared to stand upright. A place where the violence of natural selection wrought the most astounding of creatures. Yet now, after several...
9.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: MEGACITIES: SAO PAULO
It’s the second largest city on earth – and the most important city in Brazil. More than 10 million people live in Sao Paulo. But fitting people in isn’t a problem. The challenge is the city’s trash. Every day, Sao Paulo generates 14,000 tons of garbage -...
10.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: I DIDN'T KNOW THAT GOES GREEN
Going green? Here’s the ultimate guide to building the ultimate garden shed and driving the car that gets the most distance for a pound. Richard Ambrose and Jonny Phillips investigate the hard nosed realities of living the green life. Before you head for...
11.00am EARTH DAY SPECIAL: TROUBLED WATERS
A series of apparently unconnected crises among animal populations around the world turns out to be linked by water. This series examines evidence that toxins are being spread throughout the world's water systems and explores what people can do to remedy...
12.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: MEGACITIES: SAO PAULO
It’s the second largest city on earth – and the most important city in Brazil. More than 10 million people live in Sao Paulo. But fitting people in isn’t a problem. The challenge is the city’s trash. Every day, Sao Paulo generates 14,000 tons of garbage -...
1.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: SCRAP HOUSE
Can a beautiful home, that meets strict building codes, be built completely from scrap materials and salvage… using nothing new? The stakes are high. A team of architects, salvagers, and builders has decided to make it happen. They have one month and thou...
2.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: THE ONE DEGREE FACTOR
From the Arctic north to the tropical isles of the Caribbean, scientists are documenting a series of perplexing phenomena many believe is linked to climate change. Emerging signs indicate that the region’s rising temperature is affecting the indigenous po...
3.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: GARBAGE MOUNTAIN
Mammoth machines. Trash piled twenty stories high. Man and technology in a battle against a tidal wave of waste. Uncover the gargantuan world of garbage at America's largest active Mega-Dump - Puente Hills, CA. Some landfills take in 2,000 tons of trash a...
4.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: ON THIN ICE
5.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: I DIDN'T KNOW THAT GOES GREEN
Going green? Here’s the ultimate guide to building the ultimate garden shed and driving the car that gets the most distance for a pound. Richard Ambrose and Jonny Phillips investigate the hard nosed realities of living the green life. Before you head for...
6.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: MEGACITIES: SAO PAULO
It’s the second largest city on earth – and the most important city in Brazil. More than 10 million people live in Sao Paulo. But fitting people in isn’t a problem. The challenge is the city’s trash. Every day, Sao Paulo generates 14,000 tons of garbage -...
7.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: SCRAP HOUSE
Can a beautiful home, that meets strict building codes, be built completely from scrap materials and salvage… using nothing new? The stakes are high. A team of architects, salvagers, and builders has decided to make it happen. They have one month and thou...
8.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: SILENCE OF THE BEES
Scientists say we may be facing a global catastrophe. In the last six months up to 80% of honeybees in the US have disappeared. Now the nightmare has spread to Europe. Are bees the "canary in the coal mine"," the first signs of a massive ecological collap...
9.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: I DIDN'T KNOW THAT GOES GREEN
Going green? Here’s the ultimate guide to building the ultimate garden shed and driving the car that gets the most distance for a pound. Richard Ambrose and Jonny Phillips investigate the hard nosed realities of living the green life. Before you head for...
10.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: HUMAN FOOTPRINT
Imagine having everything you ever consume in your entire life laid out right in front of you – from the amount of trash you discard to the number of tears you cry. Human Footprint tracks our consumption from birth to old age in the developing world by vi...
11.00pm EARTH DAY SPECIAL: EARTH REPORT STATE OF THE PLANET
As the Earth turns another year older in 2007, our planet has seen 8 billion metric tonnes of carbon released into its atmosphere 90 million tonnes of fish pulled out of its oceans and 11 billion trees toppled on its land. Tracking everything from carbon...
中文的节目表在这儿有（不过4月22日的还没有出来）：
http://epg.tvsou.com/programjw/TV_151/Channel_738/W7.htm
台灣荒野保護協會也有相關活動.
海灘在哭泣》逾半水泥化 其他堆垃圾
更新日期:2008/04/13 16:20 記者邵冰如/台北報導
台灣原是美麗海島，但一千多公里的天然海岸線，卻有半數以上已水泥化，剩下的部分又充斥各種廢棄物，滿目瘡痍。為了搶救台灣的海岸，保育界將發起「守護海洋」行動，號召大家一起重新找回乾淨海岸線。
荒野保護協會表示，台灣擁有得天獨厚的地理條件，海岸有著歷經千萬年才形成的珊瑚礁和藻礁，還有細緻美麗的白砂和貝殼砂，以及變化詭譎的岩岸和豐富潮間帶。但過度開發帶來惡果，根據營建署最新的海岸線調查顯示，全台長達1024公里的海岸線，因為築海堤、開漁港，海岸線被大規模的水泥固封，水泥化比率已高達58.7%，不只天然景觀被破壞，海洋生物的生態和棲地也大受影響。
僅存的天然海岸線，還不到42%，長約409公里，卻也常常滿佈髒亂。長期監測海岸廢棄物的台南社大助理晁瑞光說，海邊遊憩的民眾隨手亂扔垃圾，周邊餐廳、商家打造的「海鮮文化」，也常把不要的廢物、廢水排放到大海，還有河川上游一路流下來的各種廢棄物，都嚴重污染海岸和海洋。
因此，422世界地球日前夕，荒野保護協會選在4月20日發起「全台守護海洋」活動，將於挖仔尾自然保留區、五股溼地生態園區、沙崙海水浴場、六塊厝漁港、麟山鼻沙灘、桃園笨港、新竹紅毛港、台中高美溼地、嘉義溼地、台南鹽水溪出海口南岸、高雄旗津海灘、宜蘭無尾港、花蓮溪出海口等13處海岸，透過自然觀察和海洋廢棄物監測計畫，要重新找回台灣乾淨的海岸線。
荒野保護協會也提出「守護海洋三件事─ Clean、Watch、Let it be」的觀念。Clean是指長期監測：就近選一段海岸，定時、定點，簡單拍照，為海岸留下完整的地形地貌紀錄。Watch是指用「心」觀察：在潮間帶自然觀察或有任何海洋行動時，不用腳或帶走屬於海邊的任何自然物。Let it be則指恢復原狀：清除沙灘上的垃圾，從生活中減量，從源頭杜絕垃圾的產生。