Environmental Holidays

It is time we begin to celebrate Environmental Holidays! We provide links for more information when available. Please send your suggestions for additions, including links, to me at harold (at) planetpatriot.net.


Environmental Holidays

January

  • 1 – One Day of Peace and Sharing
  • 10 – Robinson Jeffers Day (1887-1962) – California poet and Pantheist. Jeffer’s Tor House is now a privately-operated historic site in Carmel, California. See Robinson Jeffers: Visionary Poet and Pantheist by Margie Gibson, in Pantheist Vision – Winter, 2017 (PDF – on box.com file sharing site).
  • 11 – Aldo Leopold Day – (1886-1948) – Honoring the author of A Sand County Almanac and creator of the “land ethic.”
  • 14 – Albert Schweitzer Day (1875-1965) – Humanitarian who extolled a “reverence for life”
  • 29 – Edward Abbey Day (1927-1989) – chronicler and novelist for western Wilderness.
  • 31 – Stewart Udall Day (1920-2010) – The greatest Secretary of the Interior in U.S. history, and a life-long advocate for environmental protection.

February

  • 2 – Ground Hog Day – Based on a German superstition, this holiday is a chance to celebrate winter and winter’s passing.
  • 12 – Charles Darwin Day (1809-1882) – Celebrated theorist of evolution
  • 20 – Ansel Adams Day – (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984)) – recognizing the great photographer and conservationist
  • 23 – Woody Guthrie writes “This Land is Your Land” in 1940
  • 25 – Howard Clinton Zahniser (1906-1964) – father of the Wilderness Act of 1964
  • Variable – Tu B’Shevat the Jewish New Year of Trees – celebrated on the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shevat (usually January or February) – This Jewish Tree Planting Holiday is gaining more interest from year to year as a day to focus on the importance of nature and the environment. See also, Torah, Jews & Earth by Arthur Wakow.

March

  • 1 – First National Park established – Yellowstone, 1872
  • 10 – Hazel Wolf Day – (1898-2000) – 101 years of activism for Audubon. Click for Press Release
  • 14 – International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life – from International Rivers Network.
  • 21 or 22 – Vernal Equinox – The time of year when the sun crosses the equator to begin autumn in the southern hemisphere and spring in the northern hemisphere.
  • Variable – Arbor Day – This major tree planting holiday is celebrated on dates determined by the best tree planting times in each state or nation – e.g. March 7 in California, April 22 in Nebraska.

April


May

  • 3 – Pete Seeger Day – (1919 – 2014) – Activist, song-writer, folk singer, and environmentalist who is a leading inspiration for many younger activists, song-writers, folk-singers, and environmentalists. Seeger was largely responsible for the revival of American folk music in the 1950s and 1960s. His songs, many of which have themes embracing planetary patriotism, include “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and “If I Had a Hammer.”
  • 18, 2012 -variable – Endangered Species Day – A day to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions that people can take to help protect disappearing wildlife and last remaining open space. Started by the United States Senate, Endangered Species Day is the third Friday in May.
  • 25 – Ralph Waldo Emerson Day (1803-1882) – Preeminent Transcendentalist essayist
  • 27 – Rachel Carson Day – (1907-1964) celebrating the life of the woman who first brought our attention to the toxic threats caused by mis-use of chemicals. See also the biography of Rachel Carson at RachelCarson.org.
  • Variable – Space Day – celebrated each May on the Thursday prior to the anniversary of U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 challenge to “land a man on the moon and return him to the Earth,” a tribute to those endlessly engaging phenomena which constitute our universe — and to the people who, through their space-related work, have contributed so much to science, medicine and everyday life.
  • Variable – Endangered Species Day – third Friday in May. See www.endangeredspeciesday.org.

June

  • 5 – World Environment Day – established 1972
  • 11 – Jacques-Yves Cousteau Day (1910-1997) – To recognize the achievements of oceanographer, science popularizer, and global environmentalist Jacques Cousteau.
  • 21 – World Whale Day
  • 21 (on or around) Summer Solstice – First day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest day of the year
  • 30 – Asteroid Day –

    Asteroid Day is a UN-sanctioned global awareness campaign held annually on 30 June. Its mission is to inspire, engage and educate the public about asteroids opportunities and risks. Asteroid Day is observed annually on 30 June to mark the date of Earth’s largest asteroid impact in recorded history, the Siberia Tunguska event on 30 June 1908.

    Every year the participants host events and share educational resources on multiple platforms. Asteroid Day events are held around the world annually on or around 30 June. These events are largely independently organized by museums, space agencies, universities, clubs and enthusiastic educators around the world for people of all ages and mostly free-of-charge. Events range from lectures and to short story contests to live concerts and broader community events. The Asteroid Day Foundation hosts the 100X Declaration, which is a scientifically-based declaration about the need for the rapid discovery of near-Earth asteroids to ensure the safety of our planet, and called on governments to accelerate the funding of asteroid discovery programs. Today, this petition, the 100x Declaration, has been signed by over 50,000 private citizens, scientists, engineers, artists, space explorers, Academy Awards winners, Nobel Laureates, business leaders, policy makers, technologists and futurists, including more than 125 astronauts. You may read, see some of the prominent people who have signed it, and sign the Declaration yourself at: https://asteroidday.org/about/asteroid-day-100x-declaration/ 

    Learn more about Asteroid Day at https://asteroidday.org  


July

  • 1 – David Brower Day – (1912 – 2000)
  • 12 – Henry David Thoreau Day – (1817-1862)
  • 14 – Woody Guthrie Day (1912-1967)
  • 20 – Lunar Landing Day – celebrating the day in 1969 when humans first set foot on the Earth’s moon.

August

  • 2 – Enid Larson Day (August 5, 1905 – April 6, 1991) – Enid Larson was born near Bishop in 1905 of an Eastern Sierra pioneering family. Her family was forced to sell their land
    and move from the Owens Valley in 1923. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a degree in biology and taught for years in Oroville, Carmel and Walnut Creek high schools. Her teaching won national recognition in a 1957 Reader’s Digest article, “The Teacher Who Won’t Answer Questions.” So inspiring was her teaching that 25 per cent of her biology students, reportedly went on to major in science. Her life-long study of Merriam’s chipmunk gave her her the nickname “The Chipmunk Lady” and resulted in the publication of the classic work on rodent behavior: “Merriam’s Chipmunk on Palo Escrito in the Santa Lucia Mountains of California.” Retiring from teaching, Enid returned to the Owens Valley in 1970, where she continued to work for the preservation of local ecosystems. She was active in local politics, the Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth, and the Universal Pantheist Society, and many enterprises advocating world peace. She served as Vice-President in the Universal Pantheist Society since its founding in 1975 until her death in 1991.
    To learn more about Enid, see this special issue of Pantheist Vision: April, 1991 – Enid Larson: In Memorium (PDF) – on the box.com file sharing site.
  • 28 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Day (1749-1832) – German poet, dramatist, and scientist with a profound and poetic sensibility to Nature.

September

  • 1 – Species Requiem Day (PDF) – Last Passenger Pigeon died in a Cincinatti, Ohio Zoo,1914. – A day to mourn the loss of a once-numerous species, which can symbolize all the species lost to extinction by human hands.
  • 7 – Australian National Threatened Species Day – highlights the plight of Australia’s threatened species and ecological communities. September 7 is the date that the last tasmanian tiger died in captivity in 1936.
  • 14 (2024) – (and October 4, 2025, and October 17, 2026) – International Observe the Moon Night – Everyone on Earth is is invited to learn about lunar science and exploration, take part in celestial observations, and honor cultural and personal connections to the Moon. International Observe the Moon Night occurs annually in September or October, when the Moon is around first quarter. The first quarter Moon is great for late-afternoon and evening observing. You are welcome to to participate on a different day, but NASA encourages you to observe as close to the official date as possible, because the official day is close to a first-quarter Moon, which is visible in both the afternoon and evening ― a convenient time for most hosts and participants. Upcoming dates for International Observe the Moon Night:

    • September 14, 2024
    • October 4, 2025
    • October 17, 2026

     

  • 21 (on or around) Autumn Equinox – First day of Autumn.
  • 26 – Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman) Day – (1774-1845) To celebrate the life of Johnny Appleseed, who planted thousands of apple trees around the Northwest Territories. See also our Johnny Appleseed Stamps and Covers.
  • September 29 – J. Horace McFarland Day – founder of the nationwide “City Beautiful” movement and advocate for the establishment of the National Park Service in 1916, who worked hand-in-hand with Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, and naturalist John Burroughs on the preservation of Yosemite and Yellowstone parks, Niagara Falls, the Everglades and many other natural and scenic areas across the United States.
  • Variable – National Public Lands Day – Last Saturday in September – a day to improve and enhance resources in national parks and forests, reservoirs and other public lands where Americans go to enjoy the outdoors.

October

  • 3 – National Estuaries Day. The theme of this celebration is “Estuaries — Gateways to the Ocean.”
  • 16 – William O. Douglas Day – (1898-1980) – Supreme Court Justice and defender of Wilderness,

November

  • 9 – Carl Sagan Day (1934-1996) – Recognizing the noted astronomer, science popularizer, and environmentalist, and co-founder of The Planetary Society. See Also Scientific American Carl Sagan Biography.
  • 18 – Asa Gray Day – (1810 – 1888) – Recognizing the “Father of American Botany”
  • 25 – Joseph Wood Krutch Day – (1893-1970) – Recognizing the noted natural history writer and conservationist.
  • Variable – Fourth Thursday in November – Thanksgiving Day – giving thanks for Nature’s bounty

December

  • 21 (on or around) Winter Solstice – First Day of Winter triggering many ancient and modern seasonal traditions from bonfires to gift-giving and solar rites celebrating the return of the sun and longer days
  • 22 – Lady Bird Johnson Day 

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