'Acts of Green' urged as Earth Day is celebrated around the world

Environmental activists parade through the streets of Malang, Indonesia to mark the 42nd anniversary of Earth Day.

Environmental activists in Indonesia hold up plastic bottles during the Earth Day event.

Earth Day highlights all kinds of environmental projects from education to conservation around the world. Great Egrets at the Suchitlan lake, near the town of Suchitoto in El Salvador, have benefitted from the creation of an artificial lake formed by the Cerron Grande dam. The lake provides shelter for wildlife in the country.

Children in Kolkata, India hold a poster promoting this year's Earth Day.

Workers put the finishing touches to India's first one megawatt canal-top solar power plant at Chandrasan village of Mehsana district near Ahmedabad.

The solar panels sits atop a 750-meter stretch of the Sanand Branch Canal. The effort is part of the Sardar Sarovar Project developed by the Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited.

A woman plants a pine tree in Tatumbla muinicipality, Francisco Morazan department, Honduras. The Mayoralty of Tatumbl has prohibited the deforestation of the woods.

Volunteers participate in the reforestation of the 'Rosy Walter' zoo, on El Picacho hill, north of Tegucigalpa in Honduras to mark this year's Earth Day.

For Earth Day, U.S. non-profit-organization Green For All arranged for students in Atlanta to learn about sustainability and environmentalism. Children were taught a range of environmental activities from planting trees to energy-efficiency.

Students from Carter G Woodson Elementary School in Atlanta participating in the Green For All event.

People gather around the Moroccan flag in the country's capital, Casablanca to mark Earth Day.

The search engine marked Earth Day with a time-lapse animation of flowers bursting into color.

Plastics screw tops at a recycling plant in Juan Vinas, on the outskirts of San Jose, Costa Rica.

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Earth Day 2012: Indonesian rally

Wildlife conservation

Kolkata, India

Canal-top solar power, India

Planting pines in Honduras

Green For All raise awareness in Atlanta, Georgia

Planting trees

Marking Earth Day in Morocco

Google doodle

Recycling waste

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(CNN) -- Events to mark Earth Day have been taking place around the globe on Sunday as people join together to celebrate and promote environmental causes.

From conservation efforts in El Savador to parades by activists in Indonesia, this year's event is as colorful and diverse as ever uniting over a billion people in 192 countries, according to organizers, Earth Day Network.

Earth Day is focusing efforts on creating "A Billion Acts of Green" in 2012.

Stunning images of Earth from space

Billed as "the world's largest environmental service campaign," organizers hope the effort will demonstrate widespread support for coordinated action to tackle environmental issues.

Pledges large and small have been flooding into the official Earth Day web site since its launch in November 2010 and a rally at the National Mall in Washington D.C. on Sunday will coordinate a final push to break through the one billion barrier.

The environment has been "put on the backburner by world leaders," according to Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network.

"That's why we're coming together on the Mall and standing in solidarity with millions of people at thousands of Earth Day events around the world," Rogers said in a statement on the Earth Day web site.

Earth Day by numbers

Earth Day was conceived by U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 after he witnessed a massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California the previous year.

The inaugural event attracted the support of 20 million Americans but has grown rapidly in recent decades.

In 1990, Earth Day saw 200 million people participate in 141 countries, according to organizers and by the turn of the century over 5,000 environmental groups worldwide were involved.