EARTH DAY NEWS RELEASE
March 17, 1999
From Earth Day 1999
Phone: 718/366-6963
PEACE BELLS TO RING IN SPRING AT UNITED NATIONS
EARTH DAY CELEBRATIONS
IN NEW YORK AND VIENNA
At the exact time of the Spring Equinox, Peace
Bells will ring at United Nations Headquarters in New York and
Vienna (Austria). This will be on Earth Day, Saturday,
March 20, at 8:46 p.m. in New York (Sunday, March 21, at 2:46
a.m. in Vienna.) Cosmonaut Anotoli Berezevoi will ring the
Peace Bell in Moscow.
"This simultaneous global event can bring us together as one
human family." Mr. McConnell said in a statement
released today. And United Nations Secretary
General Kofi Annan stated that his organization attaches great
importance to the United Nations Earth Day on March 20.
(Full text attached).
The Peace Bell in New York, which has been rung for the past 29
years by international statesmen, winners of the Nobel Peace
Prize and astronauts, was joined by a similar Peace Bell in
Vienna three years ago. Both were largely financed by
Japanese children’s organizations.
This year the New York bell will be rung by two religious leaders
– Lama Ganchen from Tibet and Father Ignacio Harding, from
Franciscans International.
Earth Day was first celebrated on March 21, 1970 in San
Francisco, California, when founder McConnell proclaimed it as
"a global holiday to celebrate the wonder of life on our
planet." The date chosen was nature’s day -- the first
day of Spring. A month later, Earth Day USA
proclaimed April 22 as Earth Day. Both have been observed
in succeeding years.
From Earth Day came the Earth Trustee idea of stewardship –
described in the Earth Magna Charta which is on Internet at: www.earthsite.org.
President Ford issued a proclamation for Earth Day in 1975. People who have added their signatures to the original 1970 Earth Day Proclamation include: Former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, Yassir Arafat and the late Yehudi Menuhin.
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Subj: Message from Secretary General on the
occasion of "Earth Day"
Date: 3/17/99 4:37:28 PM EST
From: ferascu@un.org
(Ruxandra Ferascu)
UNITED NATIONS
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF "EARTH DAY"
New York, 20 March 1999
The global environmental movement has given us some of our most
useful words to live by. "Think globally, act
locally", "Save the Earth", "Our common
future": these and similar slogans reflect the fragility of
the earth and the human position upon it. They have helped
to raise our environmental awareness and inspire men, women and
young people throughout the world to "go green" and
join the cause.
On this Earth Day, let us again take our cue from the planet
itself. The vernal equinox is the day on which the sun
crosses the equator and day and night are equal. It is a
day rich with symbolism for the United Nations.
First, because the Organization is dedicated to "the equal rights of all men and women, and of nations large and small", in the words of the Charter.
Second, because North and South, whatever their differences, are linked by common interests and common vulnerabilities.
And third, though this day occurs every year, our own
"business-as-usual" must change if we are to achieve
our avowed goal of uniting environment and development, ecology
and economy, into development that is truly sustainable.
As we carry on in that struggle, the United Nations will continue
to do its part to protect and enrich the web of life on Earth.
