World’s biggest environmental movement to mark 55th anniversary with an unprecedented display of action for our planet

• Earth Action Day will invite everyone to act for our planet this Earth Day (April 22)
• Earth Day ‘Our Power, Our Planet’ calls for a tripling of electricity from renewable energy by 2030
• Artists unite with a free ‘Love Your Mother’ celebration in New York’s Times Square

On 22 April 1970 20 million Americans united to demand change. That collective action birthed the burgeoning environmental movement we have today; it resulted in landmark legislation and a growing awareness that there are no healthy people on an unhealthy planet.

Fast-forward to 2025 and Earth Day mobilises over one billion people annually to protect the planet and its people – and for the movement’s 55th anniversary, we are all being called to take positive action.

This year, individuals, local communities, government and faith leaders, civil society, educators and the media are being invited to unite behind Earth Action Day, an unprecedented day of action to protect the health of our planet and our future on it.

Earth Action Day

Your actions can be large or small – you can make a pledge on social media; attend, plan or register a local event or ask your elected representative to unite behind embracing renewable energy in support of this year’s Earth Day theme: Our Power, Our Planet.

You can even integrate Earth Day lessons into a curriculum wherever you, your children or your communities go to school. One million students have already committed to participating in Earth Day events.

Times Square celebration

Antonique Smith, critically acclaimed Grammy-nominated singer, actress, CEO and co-founder of non-profit climate organization Climate Revival, has been named EARTHDAY.ORG‘s official ambassador for this year’s Earth Action Day initiative.

Antonique will perform at a special Earth Day event, presented by OMMM and in partnership with Good News Corporation in New York’s Times Square. The free event (12.00-15.00), titled ‘Love Your Mother’ and presented by UK sustainability pioneer Jarvis Smith, will unite singers, speakers and artists in a spirit of joy and love that celebrates and honours our Mother Earth and all she provides for us.

Spotlighting Indigenous solutions

Individuals who are serving as stewards of the Earth will be celebrated at the event; a number of winners of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Equator Prize will take to the stage to share their powerful stories and groundbreaking solutions to address the pressing climate and biodiversity crises.

These remarkable Indigenous leaders – from Bolivia, Colombia and Zambia – will offer firsthand insights into their innovative efforts to protect both people and the planet.

The ‘Love Your Mother’ event will also feature compelling film screenings that highlight their impactful work and solutions. Prepare to be inspired and filled with hope for a brighter future for Mother Earth, so together we can take action for the Earth and celebrate all she gives us.

The Sustainable Pause the World for Peace Concert, Exhibition & Celebration continues.

The Earth Day concert, exhibition, and celebration is being held from 46^th to 47^th Street in Times Square and will continue from 14:00-16:00.  We celebrate the 400^th Anniversary of New York City and THE GOOD HAPPENING FOR MOTHER EARTH there and in the world in partnership with Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, with world-renowned entertainers and speakers taking to the stage. Participants from NYC DOT Car-Free Earth Day (26 April) and NYC DCAS, sustainable corporations and nonprofits will also be in attendance. Peace Messengers Ringo Starr, Dr. Jane Goodall, Leonardo DiCaprio, Stevie Wonder, and Shakira (Virtually) will be part of the broadcast. The Earth Day Exhibition in Times Square will be ongoing throughout the day from 11:30 to 16:00. Valley Bank, the Manhattan Borough President’s Office, OMMM and the American Oriental Foundation are amongst our donors. Various hosts will join Reverend Paul Sladkus, All Faiths and Spiritual, the Founder, Nonprofit GNC, and along with 1000’s the producer of Peace/ Earth Day for 23 years. www.pausetheworldforpeace.org

ENDS

Notes to editors

Supporting quotes

‘We are proud to partner on this event in Times Square for Earth Day, especially as we celebrate our 55th Anniversary this year. We invite everyone in New York City to join us this Earth Day. If you can’t be there in person, you can still participate by taking part in Earth Action Day and making a commitment, big or small, to help protect our planet. Everyone is invited to join the Earth Day movement.’

Kathleen Rogers, President of EARTHDAY.ORG

‘It’s such an honour to be part of the Earth Day movement, and to mark a moment in time that celebrates the power of collective action. This sense of oneness aligns perfectly with our philosophy at OMMM.

‘This Earth Day we will explore opportunities to unite and evolve at our Love Your Mother event in Times Square. We’re inviting everyone to join us as we use music and the arts to celebrate our connection – to Mother Earth and to each other – in a joyful atmosphere. Together we can create a new paradigm that’s guided by love and connection – and we must all enjoy the party along the way! We can’t wait to see you there.’

Michelle Narciso, co-founder of OMMM

‘Earth Day is like Mother’s Day; without Mother Nature there would be no life on this Earth and for that we should all be truly grateful. I’m thrilled and honoured to be presenting this year’s prestigious Love Your Mother event – let’s unite and be love this Earth Day.’

Jarvis Smith, Love Your Mother host and OMMMbassador

‘We produce a show that strengthens those who are doing good for Mother Earth and peace. Dr  Jane Goodall is one of those people, and a UN Peace Messenger, as stated in our shows.  If we don’t take care of Mother Earth we will never be able to have peace.’ 

Paul Sladkus, founder of nonprofit Good News Corporation, producer of Earth and Peace Day for 23 years

Available for interview

• Denis Hayes, a founder of EARTHDAY.ORG and organiser of first Earth Day in 1970
• Kathleen Rogers, President of ORG
• Jarvis Smith, Love Your Mother host and OMMMbassador
• Paul Sladkus, founder of nonprofit Good News Corporation, producer of Earth and Peace Day for 23 years

About EARTHDAY.ORG: Founded in 1970 by the organizers of the first Earth Day, EARTHDAY.ORG has grown into the world’s largest environmental movement, mobilizing over one billion people annually to protect the planet and its people. Our mission is to diversify, educate, and activate the environmental community globally. More about the Earth Day concert, exhibition and celebration is at pausetheworldforpeace.org.

Contact: USA: Sarah Davies, davies@earthday.org, +1 240 463 1341

About OMMM

Founded by minority women Michelle Narciso and Maria Alphonse, OMMM produces spiritual and eco events, corporate wellness retreats, immersive multimedia content and 1:1 wellness sessions. The goal is to create spaces for communities to come together in conscious evolution. OMMM takes an intersectional approach to the multiple crises we face. By leading with love and a unique focus on human and planetary wellness, we can elevate consciousness to create a fairer and more equitable world for all living beings.

More can be found at ommmpresents.com

Contact

UK: Jarvis Smith, jarvis@mygreenpod.com, +447813 844 226

USA: Michelle Narciso, michelle@ommmpresents.com

About Good News Corporation – Contact paul.sladkus1@gmail.com 212 647 1212

Good News Corporation, a 501 C 3, nonprofit, was established as a Humanitarian Media Company by veteran TV Executive and Producer Paul Sladkus in 2002.  Paul, a former CBS & PBS/Channel 13 Executive and Producer, having worked on over 150 Network Shows, most Award Winning, All in the Family, Sonny and Cher, Carol Burnet at CBS and the Nature and Brain Series at PBS, learned about the International Day of Peace in 2002 and became the host of the Central Park Concert and TV Producer for many years.  Paul brought the event to Times Square in 2014, created another broadcast for Earth & Water Day, and the rest is history.  www.pausetheworldforpeace.org. Paul’s for-profit Milestone Broadcast Corporation (MBC) est. 1985 as a multicultural marketing and broadcasting organization, helping Citibank, Delta Airlines, IBM, Sprint, US Postal, and Western Union.  In 1998 MBC created, www.youtube.com/goodnewsbroadcast, now with over 7,000 shows and social media.  GNC & MBC are passionate about sharing the Good News of the 8 Billion people in the world, including animals and plants, and to Pause the World for Peace at Noon Worldwide on September 21.

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Perhaps it’s too much trouble, I don’t know . . .
tilling idle weeds—preparing next spring’s garden.
Summer’s production gone—once so proud and industrious
just sweaty chore now, dirt tired, thirst slaking labor.
Gripping callused handles, backbone sore,
I lie down exhausted
somewhere between industry and the impulse to sleep
a tear at the edge of a lash.

Removing the disheveled look of death requires purpose—
I look at this unsightly plot and think
let the weeds grow their indigenous crop
more natural anyway, the look of chaos, wild and effortless.
For what’s the point in digging—planning.
If memory serves correctly, working the ground for sowing
produced small corn, Swiss chard tough and chewy
and peppers . . . well, they decided not to show up at all
though the tomatoes were good (the ones without worm holes)—
better produce on Whole Foods shelves.

Torso like a corpse face up, I lie in Savàsana
to meditate on a drifting cloud. Feeling free, I drift and remember
how close I came to death at birth—how it was I was produced
small and feeble, but so anxious to take life’s initial breath
I moved too much, wrapped the vital cord around my neck
till doctors cut and yanked me out.
They thought the blue baby dead, my mother recalls,
instead, I thrashed and announced my will to live.

But I’m exhausted with nature’s jousting match
fighting persistent drought, incessant weeds, leaf curl blight
all the unseen forces I parry and riposte
that have tried for years but cannot take my garden out
though I know full well, nature and I are not an even match
not a fair fight, not even in the same weight class
(they forced my grandfather to stop digging at eighty-six).
But I’m not him. So let the soil rest, the weeds sprout
get up and drive your ass to the store.
Why drain the precious time you’ve left in chore?”

Not a chance.
Impossible to drop this goddamned shovel
to resist April’s springtime idyll.
And grabbing the handle with the promise of the possible
I begin to turn the soil, imagine
the largest, tastiest tomatoes ever produced, award winning even
the proverbial end to every romantic’s spade and shoveled dig,
knowing full well—
only seeds sown get the chance to live.

This is one of my more positive, hopeful poems about the need to keep going–keep planting every year even when life makes you want to stop, with things like Covid, divorce, death, unhappiness. “Knowing full well / only seeds sown get the chance to live.” Mario

Mario René Padilla’s poetry and stories have appeared in North American Review, The Antioch Review, New Letters, Alligator Juniper, The Ledge, INKWELL Magazine, Americas Review, Tulip Tree Review, Westwind, Atlanta Review, among others. His first collection of poetry, Reaching Back for the Neverendings, was published by Red Dancefloor Press in L.A. His short story collection Scales and Other Stories was a finalist in both the Red Hen Press 2017 Fiction Prize and the Snake Nation Press 2017 Serena McDonald Kennedy Fiction Award and the editors of each press nominated the collection for a 2018 Pushcart Award for “Finalist” manuscripts that were not published. His unpublished collection of verse poetry, Blue Plums and Weeds, was a finalist in the Ohio University Press “Hollis Summers Poetry Prize, the Akron Poetry Prize, Snake Nation Press, and Crab Orchard Review’s for book publication. His unpublished manuscript of prose poems, Postcards from the Invented Road, has been a finalist in five poetry book awards, including the Red Hen Press Benjamin Saltzman Award and Silverfish Review’s “Gerald Cable Book Award.” Most recently, his story “La Chateau Possonierre” won first prize in Tulip Tree Press’s story anthology contest Stories That Need to Be Told 2017. Mr. Padilla is a winner of a Fulbright Award for collecting and translating the early poetry and prose of Jorge Luis Borges for his critical study Jorge Luis Borges: Vanguardista 1919-1925.

Mr. Padilla’s father was born in Mexico in the state of Guanajuato. His mother’s father Albino Macioce was born in Alvito in Abruzzi region of Italy while his maternal grandmother, Consolata Volpi, is from the Campania region in Italy. He was raised in the Italian American community of Columbus, Ohio but has lived his entire adult life steeped in his Latino culture in Los Angeles. Needless to say his work addresses the issues of a multiculturalism.

He received a B.S degree from Ohio State University, an M.A. in English from Loyola Marymount, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Creative Writing. He teaches Creative Writing, English and Latin American Literature as a tenured professor at Santa Monica College in California.

To learn more about Mario: Padilla_Mario@smc.edu

The post Weeds a poem by Mario Padilla, his thought, “only seeds sown get the chance to live.” appeared first on Good News!.