As part of Small Farm Canada’s week-long celebrations of Earth Day (April 22), we will be focusing on earth -- the soil used to grow crops on the farm.
We know the focus of Earth Day is really about our beloved planet earth, and about protecting the planet and keeping earth’s eco-system healthy. As stewards of the land, we believe the farming community has a particularly vested interest in Earth Day. So, for Small Farm Canada’s 2021 Earth Day celebrations, we wanted to focus on the soil – it is key to any healthy farm eco-system.
In honour of Earth Day, Small Farm Canada is pleased to announce the launch of a new resources section on the website. The resource section includes information on several topics, such as agricultural commodities and a hatchery guide, but it also includes soil resources for small farms in Canada. This section includes information on Fertilizers and Soil Additives, Soil Compaction, Soil Conservation, Soil Microbiology,and Soil Testing.
If you have suggestions for additional resources on soil, or other topics, please send a note to editor Julie Harlow.
About Earth Day
April 22nd is Earth Day. It is a day to demonstrate support for environmental protection. Every year, EARTHDAY.ORG hosts a variety of events hosted globally to celebrate, including 1 billion people in over 193 countries.
The idea of Earth Day originated in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference, in which peace activist John McConnel proposed a day to honour the Earth and the concept of peace. A month later US senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970, hiring a young activist by the name of Denis Hayes to be the National Coordinator. On that day, more than 20 million people poured out on the streets, and to this day remains the largest single day protest in human history.
In 1990, Hayes expanded Earth Day to outside of the US, organizing international events in 141 nations. Since then, Earth Day continued to be an important celebration all around the globe, as on Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by over 120 countries. Last year, Earth Day celebrated its 50th anniversary, and with over 100 million people around the world participating, the event was referred to as the largest online mass mobilization in history.
For 2021, EARTHDAY.ORG is hosting a three-day event, which will be livestreamed. The event will begin on April 20th, with the Global Youth Summit. This summit will consist of panels, speeches, discussions, and special messages with today’s activists including Great Thunberg, Alexandria Villaseñor, and Licypriya Kangujam. The second event will be hosted on the same day, and the Hip Hop Caucus will present the “We Shall Breathe” virtual summit, which will connect climate crisis to issues of pollution, poverty, police brutality, and the pandemic, all within a racial justice framework.
On the second day, April 21st, The event: “Teach for the Planet: Global Education Summit” will be a multilingual summit featuring prominent activists from every continent, focusing on the crucial role that educators play in combating climate change and why we need transformative climate education now.
The Earth Day event will occur on April 22nd. The show will include workshops, panel discussions, and special performances, covering topics such as natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems. Some other topics include climate restoration technologies, reforestation efforts, regenerative agriculture, and citizen science. World climate leaders, grassroots activists, nonprofit innovators, thought leaders, industry leaders, artists, musicians, influencers, and leaders of tomorrow will all be present.
For more information on Earth 2021, click here.