Bruce Fellman, remembers the first Earth Day celebration. Fellman — a naturalist, photographer and resident of North Stonington — spent April 22, 1970, at Brown University taking guests on foraging walks in search of edible plants.

Elsewhere in the country, 20 million people participated in rallies and peaceful protests, drawing attention to air and water pollution, the use of pesticides, oil spills and other environmental issues, according to the Earth Day Network, which today organizes Earth Day events around the world.

That first Earth Day was the spark of the environmentalist movement on a national scale and lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

In the 45 years since its inception, the holiday has been a day to draw attention and promote education about the global issues of recycling, global warming, sustainability and clean energy. On a local level, environmentalists like Fellman set smaller goals for their recognition of Earth Day with the hopes that local efforts will lead to widespread changes.

“It would be wonderful to go out and speak and give public pronouncements, but the most important thing is getting out into the woods and the fields,” Fellman said. He believes inspiring children to get involved is the most important task Earth Day can accomplish.

“If we don’t get kids involved in hands-on encounters in nature and we keep them at a distance and the only time they encounter nature is on their smartphones, then were cooked. There isn’t going to be an environmental movement,” he said.

To celebrate Earth Day this year, Fellman will be working with Stonington Land Trust, Avalonia Land Conservancy and Wheeler Middle School to organize guided nature talks. He will also be giving a presentation of his photography titled “A Naturalist’s Photographic Journey through Nature’s Calendar” at 7 p.m. April 21 at Groton Public Library. Most importantly, he said, he will be spending time outside with his grandkids fighting “nature deficit disorder,” something he fears many kids experience.

He advises others to do the same.

“Find an Earth Day celebration and get out there. We are blessed in this area with so much lands held in trust. Get to know it. It’s a great time. The frogs are calling, the birds are starting to migrate back, there’s even signs of green out there. Turn off your devices and experience it for real.”

At Mitchell College, students are planning to do just that.

On Wednesday, students in an environmental club plan to break out their gloves and spades to get a little dirty for Earth Day. While the school always celebrates the holiday in some way, faculty advisor Victoria Brennan said some years they go bigger than others. While this happens to be one of their small years, Brennan said community projects and holidays like Earth Day allow the club to engage a wider audience.

“There are probably about eight students who are the real backbone of the club and other students who come in and get involved in some of the projects,” said Brennan, a chemistry professor who teachers students in the environmental studies department. “That’s one of the reasons why we decided to incorporate this. I can’t say that 100 percent of (students) get all excited but I think the majority of them have a good sense of what’s going on and the need to sustain the environment. I think it has an impact on them getting involved on a project like this.”

Brennan said that project like the community garden leave students with a greater awareness of the environment around them. For example, many didn’t know what invasive plant species were before a recent workshop addressing the issue on campus. After the project however, students began to realize the effects of the plants.

“They would say, ‘oh my goodness this is in my backyard,’ or ‘I saw this driving all the way down the side of the highway.’ It enlightens them,” she said.

Fellman said this ability to connect people to their local environment is the goal of Earth Day celebrations. While one day in April won’t solve the issues that have been addressed on Earth Day since 1970, the efforts put forward each Earth Day can add up to have an effect on a community, he said.

“I want people to know what the natural world looks like and feels like and tastes like,” Fellman said. “If you can’t get people interested and you can’t get them to put the natural world into their souls, nothing is going to change.”

j.hopper@theday.com

Twitter: @JessHoppa