Wednesday April 22nd 2020 will mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day (pictured above is New York City’s Fifth Avenue on the first Earth Day in 1970), and for the first time in its history the world’s largest civic event is going digital.
The theme this year is climate action. Whilst this had been decided on before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe and changed the course of 2020, climate change arguably remains the biggest long-term challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable. Whilst we are all rightly focused on the crisis at hand, the climate and ecological emergency hasn’t gone away.
There are a number of online events taking place and the team behind Earth Day have put together some great suggestions of the latest digital ways to push for climate action, or actions that you can take at home. Take a look at their list of “11 Actions For The Planet During A Pandemic” featuring ways that you can take action for the planet whilst social distancing. Ideas include making April 22nd the day that you switch your utilities to green power, having a meat-free day, or committing to reading rather than streaming to reduce the carbon footprint of your online activities for the day.
Wednesday April 22nd 2020 is not going to be a normal day. This year’s Earth Day is not going to be a normal Earth Day. There is no such thing as “normal” right now. This is business as unusual. Let Earth Day remind us of the other emergency on our hands; one that we can do something about whilst also staying at home, however small that additional action is. We can still make Earth Day count, and most definitely should.
Find out more about Earth Day here.
Earth Day Live
From April 22 to April 24, activists, performers, thought leaders, and artists will come together for an empowering, inspiring, and communal three day livestream mobilisation. Tune in here.