EARTHDAY.ORG is the global organization that grew out of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, when 20 million Americans — roughly 10% of the U.S. population at the time — mobilized to call for greater protections for the planet. Today, headquartered in Washington, D.C., and operating as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the organization is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 150,000 partners across 192 countries to mobilize over 1 billion people annually in defense of the planet.
The organization’s mission is to broaden, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide, working through three pillars: broadening the definition of “environment” to include issues affecting community health, diversifying the movement by centering frontline and low-income communities hit first and hardest by climate change, and mobilizing mass civic action on global campaigns. The annual Earth Day observance on April 22 remains the centerpiece, with each year anchored by a global theme — 2026’s was “Our Power, Our Planet.”
EARTHDAY.ORG’s campaigns span the climate crisis, environmental and climate literacy, reforestation, plastics pollution, and civic engagement. Signature programs include the Great Global Cleanup, the Canopy Project (tree planting worldwide), the Climate Education campaign — which successfully pushed the European Union to embed climate education from kindergarten through grade 12 in its 2025 Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement — and the Planet vs. Plastics initiative, which advocates for a 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040. The organization is governed by an international Board of Directors and a Global Advisory Committee.
