From beach cleanups to recycling initiatives to meetings with local officials or school administrators about improving environmental policies, potential Earth Day events are limited only by your imagination.

Do neighborhoods in your area lack access to fresh vegetables and fruits?  Start a community garden on Earth Day.  Or, if you're feeling ambitious, work with local growers and government to start a farmer's market and launch it on Earth Day. 

Does your office lack a recycling program or still use incandescent light bulbs?  Make Earth Day the occasion to launch a recycling program and install CFL lights.  

Call your local Parks Department and offer to plan a park clean-up, invasive plant removal or tree planting.

Around the world, individuals and organizations craft Earth Day events every year that correspond to the environmental needs of their communities. In New Delhi last year, India, people organized a Save Water rally and cycling rallies, among many other events in 17 cities.  In 2010, Morocco held the first national celebration of Earth Day in an Islamic state that included school festivals, tree plantings, park openings, student art exhibits and competitions, meetings of architects and a huge concert with Seal and Senegalese music legend Doudou N’Diaye Rose. 

If you are at a loss for how to even begin organizing an event, don't worry.  We have been putting together grassroots environmental events for over 40 years, so we published our collective wisdom about how to organize a successful event in our Basic Organizer's Guide and Campus Organizer's Guide.