![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The choice of spring Equinox i969 is an example of such a misdirection. Throughout my life I have and am amazed at how easily environmental and other activists have been diverted from their course. eQuinoctial logic and daylight saving.← Shūbun no Hi! The 2019 autumn equinox in Japan.© Martin Nelson March 2021 Image credit: Ed Dunens, vernal equinox sunrise - reproduced under this Creative Commons license. Thus the first official Earth Day was established on April 22 1970.Įquinoxes have been left unused for half a century now is the time to reclaim them. However, the arguments of Senator Gaylord Nelson (no relation) – that rather than the vernal equinox on March 20/21, a date in April fitted better into the US school calendar – won the day. This was a year of change and revolution in any case, but a serious oil spill in the autumn of that year added urgency to the nascent environmental leaders’ deliberations. The movement was very new, of course most histories cite the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 as its moment of origin, and the idea of a dedicated Earth Day was only being mooted in 1968. That’s why Earth Days are needed more than ever – and with two equinoxes you get twice the frequency, double the value.Īnd yet the early environment movement missed these unique advantages of equinoxes – that they are actual Earth Days, during which we share a moment of equality. We have so many problems to solve that cross boundaries, continents and oceans – right now, COVID-19 – but above all, a climate crisis. Not only that, it has a twin on the other side of the year: the autumnal equinox. The spring equinox is a natural Earth Day, with a host of advantages built in. She, with others, chose this fixed event in the calendar to be the first Earth Day in 1969, fifty three years ago. ‘Earth Day is devoted to the harmony of nature … offends no historical calendar, yet transcends them all.’ These words of the famous anthropologist Margaret Mead apply precisely to the equinox. From then on, the length of the day in the Northern Hemisphere will slowly start to creep up, while in the Southern Hemisphere, the day will start getting shorter.įollow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter Follow us on Twitter and on Facebook. EST (1558 GMT), when the tilt of the Earth's axis with respect to the sun will result in the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere. The next important astronomical mark, the winter solstice, will take place on Dec. Related: Twilight and the myths of the equinox and 6-month polar night Days will be getting longer from now on ushering in the light and pleasant spring and summer seasons. For those in the Southern Hemisphere it will be the exact opposite. With shorter days, colder weather is set to arrive. For those located on the North Pole, today will be the last day they will see the sun's disc above the horizon until the spring equinox in March 2022.įor those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the length of the night from now on will exceed the length of day. Observers located on the equator will see the sun exactly overhead at noon, travelling directly from north to south, according to NASA. As those in the south welcome their summer season, the north plunges into the dark and cold winter months.īut today, we are all equal, as all over the world the day will last exactly 12 hours. As the planet completes its orbit around the star within the 365 (and a quarter) day period, the tilt of its axis, which leads from the North to the South Pole, brings seasonal changes to different parts of the globe. ![]()
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