Please join us on March 20, 2023, for the 53rd annual ringing of the Peace Bell to celebrate Earth Day on the Equinox. This year we will be honoring and celebrating the lives and work of ESF, Inc. Co-Founder, Margaret Mead, and Former ESF, Inc. President, Helen Garland, posthumously.
Committing their lives to the study of human and physical natures, both women worked tirelessly to determine how best to steward the resources and relationships of our planet.
To that end, the contributions from both Garland and Mead are still influencing our daily lives in ways which most simply take for granted. This year, we wish not only to acknowledge their lives, work, and passions, but also to celebrate their long-lasting accomplishments.
Helen at the UN preparing for the 1971 Stockholm Environmental Conference. 
Helen Garland, Pete Seeger and Shirley Temple Black sailing on the Hudson River. 
Afloat the Schooner Adventure 
Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Saltonstall Weld, Joe and Helen Garland, Catherine & Sterling Hayden 
Helen Garland speaking at the UN Earth Day on the Equinox 
Helen Garland, Monica Silfverskiöld Getz with portrait of Former U.N. Secretary-General, U. Thant
1923 Barnard College Yearbook 
Mead in NYC in the Early 1920’s 
Margaret Mead with Samoan Women 
Mead in the Columbia University Library 
Mead with a collection of Samoan masks at Columbia University. 
Excerpt of Mead’s testimony during the Sparkman Senate Hearing. 
“A Future with Alternatives” Symposium May 5, 1978, NYC. Robert & Lola Redford with Mead. Photo Credit: Ron Galella
Earth Day on the Equinox
Observed as the beginning of a new year in ancient China, England, Persia, Egypt, North and South America. At the moment of Equinox the Sun is setting at the South Pole and rising at the North Pole.
On the equator at noon you will cast no shadow.
The first Earth Day celebration was in 1970 on the March Equinox, initiated by John McConnell.
Since 1971 the Peace Bell at the United Nations in New York has traditionally been rung at the moment of the March Equinox in an annual celebration of Earth Day.
This year the Equinox will occur at 5:24 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time — the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of Fall in the Southern Hemisphere. This same moment (10:24p.m., March 20, in Austria) is also traditionally observed at the Peace Bell at the United Nations in Vienna, and at other worldwide locations.
We would love to see your photos and videos as you celebrate this annual event of Earth Day on the Equinox! Please submit photos and videos to: EarthSocietyFoundation.UN@gmail.com
Also, if sharing to social media, please use the hashtag #PeaceBellRinging so that we may easily find you and share in the joy of your local celebration.
This year’s musical guests for the ringing of the Peace Bell will be renowned Swedish Jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist, Gunhild Carling and the Carling Family.
Providing entertainment for the 70th birthday celebration of the King of Sweden, Carling equally captured the hearts of her audience and fellow musicians.
Earth Society Foundation,Inc. 
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