Earth Day 2020

Earth Day in 2020 was on Wednesday 22nd April.

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day started as a unified response to ‘an environment in crisis’ — oil spills, smog, rivers so polluted they literally caught fire.

On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10% of the U.S. population at the time — took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet.

The first Earth Day is credited with launching the modern environmental movement, and is now recognised as the planet’s largest civic event (EarthDay.org).

The first Earth Day in 1970 launched a wave of action, including the passage of landmark environmental laws in the United States. The Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts were created in response to the first Earth Day in 1970, as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Many countries soon adopted similar laws.

Climate Action

Over the years, Earth Day has been a coming-together of people in a bid to alter the course of climate change.

The theme of this years Earth Day was ‘Climate Action‘. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.

The world’s largest environmental movement conjures images of mass rallies, of pictures snapped in stunning exotic landscapes but this year that was not the case. The global Coronavirus pandemic kept us indoors and apart from one another, where normally citizens of the world could have participated in a range of events from river cleanups to invasive removals. BUT that did not mean that we should or could not be any less lacking in action. It was possible to take part in Earth Day through digital events (live streaming, environmental lectures and films) as well as getting involved in the conversation online, donate, pledge and make as much noise as possible – all through a digital community.

Remember though, Earth Day is a reminder us to take care of our planet—whether it’s cleaning up litter, planting more trees, recycling and repurposing, or going on a walk in a green space amidst the wildflowers. It’s not the only day though that you should be focusing on protecting the planet – that should be something you live and breathe everyday.

So what can you do?

I read this post on Ethical Unicorn that she’d edited and shared from EarthbyHelena and it got me thinking about our personal responsibility and what we could be doing to help make positive change.

I’d urge you and ask that you read this post on How To Ask Your MP For A Better & Greener Post Pandemic World (Email Template Included) – it includes an email template that you can use to write to your local MP and raise your voice for climate action while I’ve done this on numerous occasions already – I love how this post is written and the issues that is highlights.

The post covers five main topics:

1) Review and update response efforts to climate change in line with science-based policy recommendations

2) Assess the benefits of air pollution reduction during the COVID-19 outbreak to inform future air quality policies

3) Assess the effective protection of society’s most vulnerable to climate change through COVID-19 learnings

4) Financial aid should only be given in exchange for low carbon-commitments

5) Economic responses to COVID-19 must be ‘green’

If you are considering writing to your MP, then please use the email template here: https://ethicalunicorn.com/2020/04/22/how-to-ask-your-mp-for-a-better-greener-post-pandemic-world-email-template-included/

You can find your local MP here to look at a record of their voting history, or use the government’s tool which provides contact details for all MPs. 

Thanks so much to EarthbyHelena and Ethical Unicorn for sharing this.