Today, April 22, is Earth Day.

Earth Day was created in 1970 after years of carelessness due to the Vietnam War and all of the troubles that were brought with it.

Earth Day was founded by Mr. Gaylord Nelson, a politician from Wisconsin, who was inspired by anti-war students. Nelson was even awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 by President Bill Clinton.

This day was supported by everyone, and it only led to more actions.

Because of this day, the United States Environmental Protection Agency was founded and the  Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts were passed.

In 1990, Mr. Denis Hayes organized a campaign that spread Earth Day worldwide.

Most scientists now agree that climate change is largely due to human impacts.

The amount of wood and paper people throw away every year is enough to heat 50 million homes for up to 20 years.

In addition, by leaving the faucet on while brushing your teeth twice a day, you are wasting about five gallons of water.

Idle power is the electricity used just for having an electronic device plugged in, let alone turned on and being used. Idle power consumes more electricity than all of the solar panels in America combined.

There are many more major human impacts that occur today, like oil spills, forest fires, or the wide usage of vehicles.

Some of the things that we do, which hurt the environment that we call home, are just everyday things that we do not think about.

Use Earth Day as a reminder that you can make a change to the world just by changing your bad habits.

Happy Earth Day!