Earth Day New York

Our Mission

The Earth Day Education Program

The Sustainable Economy Project

Publications

Annual Earth Day Celebrations

Staff Directory

Press Page

Earth Day New York Timeline

OUR MISSION

Earth Day is more than a one-day event or annual environmental wake-up call. It is a catalyst for ongoing education, action and change. It simultaneously broadens the base of support and rekindles old commitments through highly participatory strategies.

Earth Day is uniquely positioned to effectively implement public participation
and education programs. Broadly recognized and under-stood,
it is a powerful and positive image for the environmental movement.

Earth Day New York is a low-overhead, broadly educational non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes environmental awareness and solutions through a three-pronged program: 1) involving schools, teachers and students through the Earth Day Education Program; 2) educating public and private policymakers through conferences and publications; and, 3) involving the general public in annual Earth Day events.

THE EARTH DAY EDUCATION PROGRAM

Earth Day New York was founded in late 1989 by a broad coalition of environmental groups to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Earth Day in New York City. Its initial geographic focus was city-wide. In 1991, it established the Earth Day Education Program to create an independent and effective mechanism for distributing environmental teaching materials directly into local public, private, and parochial schools. Its success literally demanded expansion nationwide.

In our first year (1991-1992), we achieved an extraordinary 60% response in the New York City schools we contacted. In the second year (1992-1993), we expanded the program statewide and reached over 40% of all schools in New York State. The next year (1993-1994), we piloted a thirteen-state national expansion (37%) and a resolicitation of New York schools achieving a 57% response.

In 1995, we expanded the program to all fifty states and signed up over 50,000 coordinators from 48,000 schools. In the fall of 1996, the network was expanded again reaching over 61,000 coordinators representing 57,000 different schools. Now, following our most recent expansion, we reach 87,000 coordinators in over 74,000 unique schools representing 67% of all schools in the United States.

The objectives of the Earth Day Education Program are to make top-quality environmental teaching materials more widely available, to enhance students' ability to analyze and solve environmental problems, and to make environmental studies interesting and relevant to everyday life. One important goal of the Earth Day Education Program is to distribute to every school in America without regard to ability to pay -- our materials are free.

THE SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY PROJECT

The Sustainable Economy Project supports and encourages local, regional, national and international initiatives and partnerships that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Our mission is inspired by the belief that an emerging sustainable economy already exists--it is growing and vital, developing on many different levels in most sectors of the economy. Our role is to locate and present to a wider audience the best examples of this new economy; to help identify and link the best leaders, organizations and projects; and to encourage new initiatives, programs and ideas.

In 1995, EDNY hosted the first international Building the Sustainable Economy Conference in New York City, attended by some of the most prominent theoreticians and practitioners in the field of sustainability. Since 1996, we have organized three successful conferences that focused on green buildings and sustainable real estate development. On May 1-2, 2002, we held our latest conference, Re-thinking the Built Environment.

PUBLICATIONS

In 1998, EDNY published Lessons Learned: Four Times Square – An Environmental Information and Resource Guide for the Commercial Real Estate Industry. It was distributed free-of-charge to the entire membership of the Real Estate Board of New York, BOMA, and New York Building Congress. A companion volume, Lessons Learned: High Performance Buildings, was published in 2000 in response to the extraordinary demand for the first publication and to the positive feedback it received. Through these publications Earth Day New York hopes to contribute to the quickening pace of change in an industry that is experiencing an explosion of new development and renovation. EDNY also plans to publish a third book in 2004.

ANNUAL EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS

Earth Day New York mobilized 2 million people to attend Earth Day's 20th Anniversary events in 1990 - the Earth Rising Ceremony in Times Square, the Environmental Exposition and Cultural Festival on Sixth Avenue and a major concert in Central Park. For the 25th Anniversary in 1995, we organized diverse arts and educational events including The Parade for the Planet, The Giant Earth Projections, The International Poster Exhibition and The New York Team Clean and Green. For Earth Day 2000 we engaged millions of New Yorkers in the 30th Anniversary of Earth Day with an environmental awareness festival in lower Manhattan including representatives from over 100 local, national and global environmental organizations; a wide array of educational and interactive children’s activities; three stages with New York’s finest musicians and performance artists; and a natural foods court focused on organic agriculture and vegetarianism.

For Earth Day 2002 and 2003, Earth Day New York with the Metropolitan Transit Authority held an Earth Week celebration in Grand Central Terminal. Earth related images were projected continually onto two sandstone columns in the Grand Concourse. The event culminated with Earth Fair, two days of exhibits, musical performances, and children’s activities in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall to raise environmental awareness.

STAFF DIRECTORY:

Executive Director: Pamela Lippe

Deputy Director: Elizabeth Broad

Program Director: Erin East

Program Coordinator: Anandi Premlall

Earth Day New York 201 East 42nd St. Suite 3200 New York, NY 10017 Tel: 212-922-0048 Fax: 212-922-1936 info@earthdayny.org