By Samuel Taliaferro- http://primapanama.blogs.com/

This year is the 40th anniversary of the annual Earth Day.  It’s a time to promote the sustainability of our land, water and air through individual efforts to ultimately create collective, widespread impact. Companies and consumers alike are finding distinct ways to contribute to tomorrow’s environment.  Join the more than one billion people in 190 countries that are taking action for Earth Day.

Earth Day was created as a response to incredible, systemic pollution and disregard for Mother Nature. Forty years ago today, polluted rivers caught fire, frequent oil spills squelched shoreline animal populations and dirty air choked cities. Learn about the challenging, yet rewarding historic path to sustainability thus far. [The Huffington Post]

According to Wikipedia: Earth Day is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970. Earth Day is celebrated in spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Earth Day Network, a group that wishes to become the coordinator of Earth Day globally, asserts that Earth Day is now observed on April 22 on virtually every country on Earth. World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5 in a different nation every year, is the principal United Nations environmental observance. Many communities also celebrate Earth Week, an entire week of environment-related activities, the first of which occurred in Philadelphia in 1970 (starting April 16 and culminating on Earth Day, April 22.)

The whole point of Earth Day is to have one day a year when attention is focused on the environment and people can reflect on what they can do to help the environment.

For example Bolivian President Evo Morales has rallied a "people's conference" on climate change, calling for the death of careless capitalism so that the Earth can live. Environmental activists, indigenous leaders, and Hollywood celebrities are taking part in a three-day summit focusing on the world's poorest, whom they say were largely ignored at official United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen last December.

At the Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide website you can find the top 10 earth day tips.  Some suggestions to consider on how you can take action to improve the environment.

By Costa Rica Blog

Costa Rica has ranked highest in the Americas and 3rd in the world with a score of 86.4 in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI). Second place goes to Switzerland with a score of 89.1 and the honor of first place goes to Iceland with a score of 93.5. The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 163 countries on 25 performance indicators tracked across ten policy categories covering both environmental public health and ecosystem vitality. These indicators provide a gauge at a national government scale of how close countries are to established environmental policy goals.
In Central America, Nicaragua placed 93rd, Panama placed 24th, El Salvador 33rd, Honduras 118th and Guatemala 105th.  The United States places 61st with strong results on some issues, such as provision of safe drinking water and forest sustainability, and weak performance on other issues including greenhouse gas emissions and several aspects of local air pollution.
For more information click here: http://epi.yale.edu/