Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 124.djvu/4642

 124 STAT. 4616 PROCLAMATION 8503—APR. 21, 2010 face in the workforce. Today, let us reaffirm our pledge to erase this injustice, bring our Nation closer to the liberty promised by our found- ing documents, and give our daughters and granddaughters the gift of true equality. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Con- stitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 20, 2010, as National Equal Pay Day. I call upon all Americans to ac- knowledge the injustice of wage discrimination and join my Adminis- tration’s efforts to achieve equal pay for equal work. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Inde- pendence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty- fourth. BARACK OBAMA Proclamation 8503 of April 21, 2010 Earth Day, 2010 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation In the fall of 1969, Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson announced plans for a national ‘‘environmental teach-in’’—one day, each year, of action and advocacy for the environment. His words rallied our Nation, and the first Earth Day, as it became known, saw millions come to- gether to meet one of the greatest challenges of our times: caring for our planet. What Senator Nelson and the other organizers believed then, and what we still believe today, is that our environment is a blessing we share. Our future is inextricably bound to our planet’s fu- ture, and we must be good stewards of our home as well as one an- other. On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we come together to reaffirm those beliefs. We have come far in these past four decades. One year before the first Earth Day, our Nation watched in horror as the polluted and debris-choked Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, caught fire. In response, a generation of Americans stepped forward to demand progress. What Americans achieved in the decades that followed has made our children healthier, our water and air cleaner, and our planet more livable. We passed the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, established the Envi- ronmental Protection Agency, and safeguarded treasured American landscapes. Americans across our country have witnessed the impact of these measures, including the people of Cleveland, where the Cuya- hoga River is cleaner than it has been in a century. We continue to build on this progress today. My Administration has invested in clean energy and clean water infrastructure across the country. We are also committed to passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation that will create jobs, reduce our dependence on for- eign oil, and cut carbon pollution.