Next: 22 Apr 2027
Earth Day
Green and blue: land and water, as the planet looks from space.
The colours of Earth Day
Earth Day was first held in the United States on 22 April 1970, when some twenty million people joined teach-ins and marches about pollution. It is now kept in most countries. Its colours are green and blue. Green had already become the colour of the environmental movement, for leaves and growing things. Blue came from a new picture: the first photographs of the whole Earth from space, taken by the Apollo missions between 1968 and 1972, showed a blue planet with white cloud. An unofficial Earth flag puts that photograph on a dark blue field. Schools plant trees, people clean beaches and rivers, and posters show the globe in the two colours.
#2E8B3DLeaf greenPlants and the environmental movement.#1F5FA8Ocean blueThe Earth seen from space.#F4F7FACloud whiteCloud swirls in the Apollo photographs.#6F4E37Soil brownThe ground that trees are planted in.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Earth Day" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.