Celebrating its 35th year, 22 April is Earth Day, the biggest climate change awareness event of the year and, to highlight this, Siliconrepublic.com looks at 10 natural wonders worthy of protection.
The event was started by US Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970, during a time when climate change was only just beginning to enter the consciousness of politicians, let alone the general public.
In its first iteration, it was set out to be an educational sit-in for universities in the US to be educated on the effects of man-made climate change but has since expanded to 196 different countries across the world with events being organised by the Earth Day Network.
The theme for this year’s event is ‘It’s our turn to lead’ and is what the organisation says "could be the most exciting year in environmental history".
Certainly, much has been made recently of the evidence that shows that some of the world’s largest polluting nations are making a significant change of policy whereby they’re moving away from fossil fuel technology in favour of renewables, with a recent report showing that, in 2013, 143GW of renewable energy generators were produced compared with 141GW of fossil fuel generators.
“Eradicating global poverty is possible but only in a world where all countries commit to a low carbon future,” says the Earth Day network. “We’ve got the technology. All we need is the will. Sustainability can be the answer to development, the only answer.”
In the meantime, here are 10 incredible gifs which show why the reasons for protecting the planet’s environment become increasingly evident with each passing year.
Gif via Ima_nobody/Reddit
Gif via Sheojacky/Reddit
Gif of sunset via orbojunglist/Reddit
Gif of waterfall in Yellowstone Park via BigMurph26/Reddit
Image of storm in Climax, Texas via orbojunglist/Reddit
Image of stars over Yosemite National Park via Shawn Reeder/Reddit
Mountain snowfall image via likebuttermilk/Reddit
Swimming jellyfish image via Rafa Herrero Massieu/Tumblr
A caterpillar climbing a stick image via Imgur
Earth 'breathing' through the season image via angrypotato1/Reddit
Main image of Sumatran tiger via ctrlaltdileep/Flickr