Earth Day 2017!

Happy Earth Day 2017!  In honor of this special day, The Sustainable Souls have created projects using our very own StencilGirl stencil, designed by our very own DeeDee Catron.  

Before we start, What is Earth Day?

(excerpt from www.earthday.org)

"Each year, Earth Day—April 22—marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.  

The idea for a national day to focus on the environment came to Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realized that if he could infuse that energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. Senator Nelson announced the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media; persuaded Pete McCloskey, a conservation-minded Republican Congressman, to serve as his co-chair; and recruited Denis Hayes from Harvard as national coordinator. Hayes built a national staff of 85 to promote events across the land. April 22, falling between Spring Break and Final Exams, was selected as the date.

On April 22,1970, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

By the end of that year, the first Earth Day had led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. “It was a gamble,” Gaylord recalled, “but it worked.”

Earth Day had reached into its current status as the largest secular observance in the world, celebrated by more than a billion people every year, and a day of action that changes human behavior and provokes policy changes.

Today, the fight for a clean environment continues with increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more manifest every day. We invite you to be a part of Earth Day and help write many more chapters—struggles and victories—into the Earth Day book."

The focus for Earth Day 2017 is Enviromental and Climate Literacy.  What a beautiful marriage between The Sustainable Souls Project and Earth Day.

Here's more details on the 2017 campaign.

Education is the foundation for progress. We need to build a global citizenry fluent in the concepts of climate change and aware of its unprecedented threat to our planet. We need to empower everyone with the knowledge to inspire action in defense of environmental protection.

Environmental and climate literacy is the engine not only for creating green voters and advancing environmental and climate laws and policies but also for accelerating green technologies and jobs.

This Earth Day, gather with your community for an Environmental & Climate Literacy Teach-In or another project focused on education. We are launching Earth Day and Teach-In toolkits that will lay out the steps for holding a successful event. Register your event with us and we will support you with promotion and advice.

Are you ready for some art inspiration?

(Click names for links to the artist blog post) 

Christy Strickler

 Martha Richardson

Melissa Johnson

Robyn Crowningshield

Tina Walker

Tracy Krueger

DeeDee Catron

Wanna support and help protect our planet?

Want your very own The Sustainable Soul Project Stencil?

You can't find these stencils at the StencilGirl Stencils store, you can only find them here.  They are very limited, so if you are interested, please let us know.

(Stencils are 9x12 and are $10USD plus shipping)  

Want to help in other ways?

Earth Day (dot) Org lets you 'Create Your Own Act of Green'.  

What a great way to share your support and to help in ways you are inspired to.

Be sure to check back later next week for our April theme and for more amazing artwork from our souls!