Environment

Earth Day 2022

By: John Partipilo - April 24, 2022 3:39 pm

Trees lined up for distribution at Nashville’s Earth Day celebration Saturday. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Earth Day, first celebrated in April 22, 1970, was rolled to April 23 in Nashville and photojournalist John Partipilo staked out the event at Centennial Park.

Hundreds turned out on a beautiful day to pick up free trees that were being distributed, listen to live music and attend presentations from environmental and conservation organizations. Packets of seeds for butterfly-attracting plants were handed out in an effort to help improve biodiversity.

The genesis of the original Earth Day was the 1969 oil well blowout in Santa Barbara, Calif. that spewed more than 3M gallons of oil into the ocean, killing sea birds and animals including seals and dolphins. A coalition of environmental activists and the late U.s. Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin created the first Earth Day and the Santa Barbara blowout became the impetus for some of the 1970s’ environmental regulations.

Brandon Patton of Nashville said that every day should be Earth Day. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Hunter Ray Bond entertains visitors to Earth Day 2022 outside Nashville's replica of the Parthenon. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Ezra Minneo, age 2, with his grandmother Carolyn Fisher. (Photo: John Partipilo)

Earth Day celebrants parade through Centennial Park in Nashville. (Photo: John Partipilo)

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John Partipilo

Working as a photojournalist for 40 years, Partipilo has won awards such as NPPA Best of Photojournalism and nominated for two Pulitzers. His photography has also been featured in national and international publications. Most importantly Partipilo’s work is about people — people in their different environments and people in their different stages of life. That’s the heart of his work. To him people are so important, because they all have a unique story.