For ASPNI Nature Israel, every day is Earth Day. But this April 22 marks the 55th anniversary of this special global day to educate people about how important it is for us to take care of the planet, starting with the places we care about most.   

Earth Day emerged in 1970 as a rallying cry for environmental protection. Its roots stretch back to transformative moments: Rachel Carson’s 1962 groundbreaking book Silent Spring, and the growing realization that not all human progress benefits life on Earth. Carson’s book exposed the devastating effects of pesticides like DDT on ecosystems, sparking public awareness and laying the foundation for the modern environmental movement. 

Remarkably, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) came to this realization even earlier, in 1953. At a time when Israel’s pioneers sang of draining swamps and making deserts bloom, Azaria Alon of Kibbutz HaShita and biologist Amotz Zahavi from Tel Aviv University recognized the devastating impact of such endeavors. They founded SPNI to protect the Hula Valley wetlands—a critical resting and feeding ground for hundreds of millions of migrating birds. Israel is the second largest bird migration flyway in the world and an........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)