Title
To recognize and celebrate April as Earth Month and Monday, April 22, 2024 as Earth Day in Columbus, Ohio.
Body
WHEREAS, April is Earth Month, a time to celebrate our planet and take action to protect it; and
WHEREA, celebrating Earth Day represents all of the hard work that has been done and will continue to be done to protect our planet and keep our families safe; and
WHEREAS, Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in first held on April 22, 1970; and
WHERAS, Earth Month is dedicated to investing preserving and protecting our health, families and livelihoods by investing in our planet; and
WHEREAS, Green Columbus is a Central Ohio nonprofit organization that started the local celebration of Earth Day in 2007 and organizes the Earth Day Columbus service month every year. Since its inception, Earth Day Columbus has helped Central Ohioans volunteer hundreds of thousands of hours and resulted in millions of dollars worth of goods and services being donated in Central Ohio; and
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus, through its Sustainable Columbus office, is committed to imparting equity and environmental justice through strong climate action and is guided by the Columbus Climate Action Plan which has a community-wide goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and 45% reduction in emissions by 2050; and
WHEREAS, the City of Columbus Climate Action Plan has strategies and goals around reducing waste, transitioning to clean energy sources and zero emission vehicles, increasing energy efficiency, increasing access to green space, and increasing the tree canopy in alignment with the City’s Urban Forestry Master Plan; and
WHEREAS, Keep Columbus Beautiful, a national affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, is a community improvement program started in 1984 that focuses on public education and volunteer service related to quality of life environmental issues including litter, recycling and beautification. In 2023 Keep Columbus Beautiful facilitated 11,564 volunteers, 29,972.30 volunteer hours, 792 cleanups, and the removal of 365,637 pounds of litter; and
WHEREAS, founded in 2008 by former Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman, and continued and grown under Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, Columbus GreenSpot is a city program that inspires, educates, and recognizes households, businesses, community groups, and neighborhoods that adopt sustainable practices. Columbus GreenSpot currently has over 25,000 members throughout the city; and
WHEREAS, Columbus City Council encourages all residents to volunteer for Earth Day 2024 and thank the many people and organizations in our community who will spend the month of April dedicating time to clean their neighborhoods and help our environment; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS: That this Council does hereby recognize and celebrate April as Earth Month and Monday, April 22, 2024 as Earth Day in Columbus, Ohio.