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A Brief History of the NIH Earth Day Event

​Earth Day at the NIH has a long and extensive history. Earth Day itself was started in 1970 as part of a national movement towards environmental accountability. The first link between the NIH and Earth Day was formed in 1991, when NIEHS celebrated Earth Day’s 21st anniversary. Earth Day celebrations have grown since then to include Research Triangle Park, Bethesda, Rocky Mountain Labs, Bayview, Shady Grove and Ft. Detrick.

A popular feature in Earth Day Bethesda history included guest appearances from the Mad Hatter, who shared with children and adults the impacts of mercury exposure. The Division of Environmental Protection (DEP) previously ran an initiative called the Mad Hatter Program, which sought to raise awareness about mercury usage and disposal at the NIH.

The Mad Hatter wasn’t the only odd character featured at Earth Day Bethesda. Founding father and renowned scientist Benjamin Franklin also used to frequent the campus during the annual festival, regaling adults and children alike with the adventures of his life and the importance of environmentalism.

All sorts of creatures have made guest appearances at Earth Day celebrations in Bethesda over the years as well, including: alligators, bees, frogs, goats, hawks, mantises, owls, snakes, tarantulas and even worms! Who knows what you’ll get to see this year!

Earth Day events have also had many educational and difference-making activities that have become mainstays year after year. Since the completion of its restoration in 2004, the NIH Stream on the Bethesda campus has been the main feature explored during the NIH Stream Walk activity. The Adopt-A-Highway Litter Clean-Up outing is a staple of Earth Day at RTP, in which volunteers gather to collect trash off a 1.2-mile stretch of road near the North Carolina campus. Earth Day Bayview has held a longstanding waste disposal initiative, focused on electronic waste. This collection has resulted in the reuse, recycling or proper disposal of over 1,000 pounds of electronic waste in the most recent years.

One of the most famous trees that have grown during Earth Day is the Pledge Tree, a board that is filled with leaves representing attendees’ pledges to the environment. What started off as a small poster board has grown into a five-foot-tall reusable board that is bursting with pledges. Make sure to visit and make your pledge this year! If you can’t make it to the in-person event, pledges can be made online too!

Interactivity has always been a core theme of Earth Day. The EnviroScape Model is an interactive learning simulation that helps kids understand stormwater runoff in a fun and hands-on way. It has been a mainstay at Earth Day Bethesda since the early 2000s. Earth Day Shady Grove took this idea to another level in 2018, when visitors were able to try out an Augmented Reality Sandbox. This station used an Xbox Connect sensor and a projector to display a topographical map onto a sandbox. Kids could interact with the sandbox to change the topographic map and learn how this new map would be affected by erosion and natural hazards.

The Seedling Giveaway activity grows in impact each and every year. For decades, the Division of Environmental Protection has distributed tree saplings of a variety of species during Earth Day Bethesda (the tree saplings have been graciously provided by the NIH Federal Credit Union). Each year, Earth Day attendees return to share stories of how their saplings have flourished into now mighty trees.

​The 2024 NIH Earth Day event on the Bethesda campus will be held along with NIH Take Your Child to Work Day (TYCTWD) and is scheduled for Thursday, April 25 from 10:00am to 2:00pm on the Building 1 Front Lawn. The theme Planet vs Plastics will be incorporated throughout event programing, providing visitors with the opportunity to explore the impact of plastic waste and strategies to take action at home and on-campus to combat plastic pollution. A full listing of Earth Day activities across all NIH campuses can be found on the Earth Day webpage​.

​Spotlight                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

2024 Kids' Earth Day Poster Contest Results Another fantastic batch of Earth Day posters were submitted by young artists for the 2024 Kids' Earth Day Poster Contest. Join us in congratulating the winners from each age category and appreciating the artwork of these youngsters! ​ LEA​RN MORE​​​​

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​	​2024 NIH Earth Day​ ​ ​Join your campus to celebrate the 2024 Earth Day! Many activities will be held across NIH campuses for NIH staff (and some for children too). Read about the current activity listings inside this article! ​​LEARN MORE​​​​

NEMS Training                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
Did you know? ​Earth Day has been celebrated at the NIH for decades! Human health is greatly affected by our environment, so join the NIH in celebrating Earth Day again this year! To learn more about sustainability, please visit the NEMS T​raining webpage to view a short (20 minute) NIH environmental awareness training video.