If seeing photos of Earth from the Artemis II mission around the moon gave you a renewed sense of hope, as it did for many, this week is the perfect opportunity to celebrate our home planet.
The 56th annual celebration of Earth Day is today, April 22, with many Earth Day festivals and cleanups planned around Florida this weekend.
Here’s what to know about Earth Day 2026, what the theme is this year and a list of Earth Day 2026 events in Florida.
When is Earth Day? Is Earth Day the same day every year?
Yes, Earth Day always falls on the same day of April, no matter the day of the week. Earth Day 2026 is today, Wednesday, April 22.
What is the slogan of Earth Day 2026? Why does Earth Day have a theme?
The Earth Day 2026 theme is the same as in 2025: “Our power, our planet.”
“Our Power, Our Planet is Earth Day 2026’s theme, reflecting a fundamental truth: environmental progress doesn’t depend on any single administration or election,” the Earth Day website says. “It’s sustained by daily actions of communities, educators, workers, and families protecting where they live and work.”
According to the website, Earth Day has a theme each year because “introducing a new theme brings attention to the most pressing environmental issues, and themes can bring billions of voices together as one powerful collective pushing for change.”
This year’s theme, a continuation of the 2025 theme, reflects the “limited signs of progress” made in 2025 toward a cleaner environment.
“2025 was a year marked by extraordinary environmental retrenchment. The current Administration took more than 400 actions ranging from sweeping executive orders to obscure regulatory changes, that are causing irreversible damage to every facet of the global environment,” the 2026 theme announcement says.
“Across the world, environmental safeguards that took generations to defend and create are under relentless attack.”
How and why did Earth Day start?
The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970.
The holiday, which isn’t federally observed, was founded by Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson, who had long been worried about the environment. Nelson wanted to build a movement that combined “the energy of student anti-war protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution,” according to Earth Day online.
With help from a young activist he enlisted to organize college campus teach-ins, Nelson chose April 22 as the day of environmental activism that turned into Earth Day. The movement took flight and gained bipartisan support, even sparking environmentally minded legislation.
“Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, urban dwellers and farmers, business and labor leaders,” the Earth Day website’s history of the holiday says.
“By the end of 1970, the first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of other first-of-their-kind environmental laws, including the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act. Two years later, Congress passed the Clean Water Act.”
Celebrate Earth Day in Florida: How to find an Earth Day event near you
Earth Day’s Great Global Cleanup, which is an ongoing campaign outside of just one day a year, “aims to rid the world of waste and plastic pollution for good.”
To find an Earth Day-organized cleanup or event near you this April, you can use the interactive map on the Earth Day site.
Here are just a few of the Earth Day 2026 events in Florida, according to the Earth Day map:
Note that many of these events require registration before attending.
Lianna Norman is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, covering pop culture, lotteries, rocket launches, Florida wildlife, breaking news and more. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at https://floridatoday.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Happy Earth Day! How to find a Florida Earth Day event this weekend
Reporting by Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
