Organizers Put All the Elements Into Worldwide Earth Day

Earth Day will be celebrated around the world Sunday with parades, nature walks, concerts and demonstrations from Tokyo to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Unlike the first Earth Day in 1970, which was an American event planned in three months, Earth Day 1990 has taken 14 months to organize and will involve 144 nations. Organizers hope that it will spark changes in individual lifestyles, prompting more recycling, more tree-planting and a renewed interest in environmental issues.

“You get 100 million people to watch the Super Bowl, but there aren’t any consequences,” said Denis Hayes, an environmentalist who conceived of Earth Day 1990. “We’re going to have 100 million people out as a result of all of this (planning) we’re doing. We want to have some consequences.”

In the Philippines, dignitaries will mark Earth Day in a tree-planting ceremony Sunday in Manila. Japan will host picnics, parades, fairs and festivals to culminate several weeks of such activities as a “Rock for the Rainforest” concert in Tokyo and a “Renewing the Earth” environmental conference in Kyoto.

There will be bicycle rides, nature walks, running marathons, concerts and fairs in England, beach cleanups and barbecues in Scotland, a ceremony to unveil a “Manifesto for the Earth” in New Zealand, music festivals and an “ecological movie marathon” in Spain, tree-planting ceremonies in Nicaragua and an environmental conference in Portugal.

Schoolchildren will march in an Earth Day parade in Ghana, boy scouts will organize a tree-planting ceremony in Kenya, activists will hold workshops, art exhibits and anti-litter campaigns in Pakistan and naturalists will participate in countryside walks in Cyprus.

A parade will mark the day in Dublin, Ireland, a petition campaign calling for a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions will be launched in Italy, a scientific symposium for environmental engineering will be held in Romania and neighborhood clean-up campaigns will move into action in Mexico.

Even Antarctica is getting into the act. Greenpeace activists there will spend a day in an igloo, fasting and meditating for world peace.

In the United States, most major cities will host Earth Day events. From a “Walk Along the Water” with actor Ted Danson in Santa Monica to a rally and concert in New York’s Central Park, there will be plenty to do for those who get weary of watching a wide-array of Earth Day programs on television.

An Earth Fair will be held in Dallas, highlighted by a chain of hundreds of people passing a bucket of polluted water. The water will be dumped into a barrel marked “Toxic” in front of City Hall.

Miami children will plant peanuts, paint faces, play with giant earth balls and parachutes and then march for Earth. In Atlanta, musicians, environmentalists and city celebrities will gather in a park to celebrate Earth Day, and children will conduct a candle-lighting ceremony.

Organizers of Earth Day 1990 say it has cost about $3 million to plan, with most of it financed through small, individual contributions, grants from foundations and corporate donations.

Although Sunday is officially Earth Day, events geared around the environment have been taking place for several weeks. Schoolchildren have been studying about environmental problems, cities have sent residents leaflets about environmental hazards in the homes, and college students have done environmental audits of campuses, uncovering hazards and waste and recommending reforms.