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With climate change threatening to destroy our planet, we should do everything we can to protect the Earth. One good way to do so is by participating in Earth Day this April 22.
Climate change has been the talk all around the globe for the past decade. The press, independent journalists, celebrities, bloggers, and political figures from different countries, different social backgrounds, and different cultures are all banding together in order to fight against global warming.
In fact, members of the United Nations, who accounted for 55% of the global greenhouse gas emissions, created an agreement called, “The Paris Agreement,” which aims to strengthen the global efforts to fight the impending threat that is climate change.
On a smaller scale, people from all around the globe are helping address this issue by reducing their waste and advocating for reusable products, such as buying tumblers, tote bags, and metal straws instead of their more environmentally harmful counterparts such as plastic cups, styrofoam cups, plastic bags, and plastic straws.
Last March, we celebrated Earth Hour all around the world when we turned off the lights from wherever we were at that time from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM. It helped reduce a great amount of our carbon emission even if it was just for an hour.
For the month of April, we have Earth Day. Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22 to do our part for the environment. In preparation for the celebration, we’ve lined up a list of interesting facts about Earth Day and what you can do to participate down below.
Earth Day Was Made to Address Pollution in The US
Earth Day was initially created to address the problem of pollution in the US. Back in the 1970s, the smog levels in America was becoming deadly. Evidence regarding the effects of smog levels and pollution surrounding the country was growing more and more each day. The evidence showed that signs of development delays among children stemmed from the growing pollution levels in the country. Biodiversity started to decline as a result of the heavy use of pesticides and other pollutants as well.
In April 22 of 1970, millions of Americans stood up against the negative impacts of 150 years of industrial development to help fight these alarming rates. Pressured by the demands of the people, President Nixon and the US Congress responded quickly to their demands by creating the Environmental Protection Agency and other robust environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act among others in July of the same year.
Earth Day Has Different Themes Each Year
What not a lot of people may know is that Earth Day has different themes for each year.
Last year, Earth Day 2018’s theme was “End Plastic Pollution”, which circled around addressing the problem of plastic waste in our environment. The Earth Day Network (EDN) built a multi-year campaign to end plastic pollution with the following goals: ending single-use plastics, promoting alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials, promoting 100% plastic recycling, corporate and government accountability, and changing human behavior revolving around plastic.
For 2019, the theme is: Protect Our Species, which focuses on protecting endangered species and the biodiversity of the world. EDN’s campaign goals for this year are: building and activating a global movement that embraces nature and its importance, encourage individual actions to protect the environment such as stopping pesticide and herbicide use, educate about the accelerating rate of extinction of millions of species and the causes and effects of their extinction, and achieve policy victories that protect species and their habitats.
Earth Day: A Major Global Event with A Ton of Activities
Earth Day today has now expanded into a global event which is celebrated by 192 countries worldwide with more than 1 billion participants in total. It’s considered as the largest civilian focused day of action in the world.
People from all around the globe sign petitions to address the alarming issues of climate change, global warming, wildlife conservation, and many more. They also take to the streets to march in protest. Some people meet with elected officials for talks about conserving nature and other related matters. Others choose to plant trees and clean up their cities and roads. Many politicians and corporations use Earth Day as a date to announce their sustainability measures and to pledge themselves to environmental causes. Faith leaders also participate in Earth Day by making a connection between Earth Day and our duty to protect biodiversity and the planet that we live on.
The aforementioned are some of the things that you could also do to participate in Earth Day. Whether it’s helping cleaning up the streets or pledging to a cause, participating in any one of these activities can help make a change in today’s world.
Sources: Earth Day, Green and Growing, United Nations Climate Change
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