U.S. President Barack Obama is heading to the state of Iowa Wednesday to give an Earth Day message that pitches his plan for alternative energy development.

White House aides say the president will highlight his plans to create new jobs and protect the environment in a quick visit to the economically struggling town of Newton, Iowa. He plans to tour a wind energy plant as a model for job creation and clean energy production that could lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

The government is holding a number of events in Washington to mark Earth Day. Administration officials, including Energy Secretary Stephen Chu and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, are testifying at a House of Representatives hearing on The American Clean Energy Security Act of 2009.

Environmental groups and governments around the world are marking Earth Day with events aimed at protecting nature and raising awareness about global warming.

The first Earth Day took place in the United States on April 22, 1970. Twenty million people participated in protests around the country that day to demand that the government combat widespread pollution.

Also Wednesday, environmental ministers from the Group of Eight (G8) industrial countries are meeting in Italy for talks on curbing greenhouse gases that scientists say lead to global warming.

The three-day talks in Sicily will be a milestone on the way to a U.N. meeting in Copenhagen in December, aimed at sealing an international pact for curbing pollution beyond 2012.

Environmental ministers from China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea and Egypt are also attending the talks. Delegates will discuss investment in green technology as a means to stimulate the economy.