Environmentalists across the world are leading activities today celebrating International Earth Day, an event which is achieving growing prominence, thanks to the dedication of green groups across the globe and the marshalling possibilities of the internet.

Search engine behemoth Google led the way this morning, rolling out a Garden of Eden type motif across its worldwide portals.

Founded in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, the event took many years to become an annual, global phenomenon.

Momentum began to pick up on the twentieth anniversary, in 1990, and today, the date is increasingly recognised in schools worldwide.

Indeed, the senator's initial manifesto might easily have been declated by U.S. environmentalist Al Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

“I am convinced that all we need to do to bring an overwhelming insistence of the new generation that we stem the tide of environmental disaster is to present the facts clearly and dramatically,” said Nelson in 1969.

Although still a fairly low key fixture, Earth Day has been celebrated in Poland twenty-one times. It began in 1990, thanks to the initiative of Dr Jan Rzymelka, currently a Civic Platform MP from the south-western Polish city of Katowice.

This year, events are taking place under the slogan, “Las calkiem blisko nas” (The forest is dear to us), echoing the International Year of Forests led by the UN.

The theme was implemented to combat growing deforestation throughout the world.