WHEREAS, on April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans came together to celebrate the first Earth Day, recognizing the importance of protecting our environment and preserving our natural resources; and

WHEREAS, in the months and years that followed, the United States Congress passed the Clean Air, Clean Water, Endangered Species, and Marine Mammal Protections Acts and founded the Environmental Protection Agency; and

WHEREAS, while we have made considerable progress, climate change continues to threaten our jobs, harm our health, and damage Maine’s historic relationship to the land and sea; and

WHEREAS, with each year that passes, the need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, to address our carbon footprint, and to accept the challenge of preparing for and responding to climate change becomes more urgent; and

WHEREAS, combating climate change will require collaboration and long-term work – not just short-term solutions – to ensure a healthy planet for future generations; and

WHEREAS, here in Maine, we have made extraordinary progress toward our climate goals, as our four-year action plan Maine Won’t Wait has become a blueprint for climate action for Maine people, businesses and communities who recognize the urgency of the fight against climate change; and

WHEREAS, with climate change now called a code red for humanity, we must continue to act with urgency to protect our state and make the most of this historic moment in which we have the methods and means to make a difference; and

WHEREAS, with this year’s theme of Planet vs. Plastics, let us all renew our commitment to cutting back on our use of single-use plastics in order to protect the lives of all living beings on the precious planet we call home;

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills, Governor of the great State of Maine, do hereby proclaim April 22, 2024, as

Earth Day

in Maine, and I encourage all citizens to take a moment to appreciate the land that we are fortunate to call home and let us take the appropriate steps to safeguard it for future generations so that they may live in a Maine that is as beautiful and bountiful as it is today.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this seventeenth day of April Two Thousand Twenty-Four