Photo in the public domain
The world celebrated the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22. Millions of people used digital platforms and resources as a way to participate in Earth Day events and draw attention to its message. As we see the planet begin to heal while we are all stuck inside, now more than ever it is necessary for us to make our voices heard so that we don’t regress into the highly-polluted state our planet was in pre-pandemic.
The first Earth Day occurred in 1970. It united one billion people across more than 190 countries over the common goal of environmental activism and consciousness. The leading issue for the first Earth Day involved protesting air pollution and oil after the Santa Barbara, CA oil spill in 1969. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin wanted to spread the word about a deteriorating environment in the United States. Inspired by the anti-war protests he saw at the time, he planned a teach-in on college campuses with the help of Pete McCloskey, a conservative Republican Congressman. April 22 was the day they chose for their teach-in. After they received an outpouring of support, they changed the name of their protest to “Earth Day.” Fifty years later we have the global environmental movement that Nelson inspired.
In a lot of ways, environmental activists face more challenges than the first Earth Day activists did. Fifty years ago, Earth Day led to bipartisan support over the issue of environmental protection. Today, this problem is more politically divisive than ever, so much so climate researchers stray away from including the term “climate change” in their research proposals to increase their chances of getting funding. This is why we need to think of every day as Earth Day, to put increased pressure on our representatives. They need to see that environmental protection is not a party issue, but a humanitarian one. The following are some ways you can act to continue Earth Day’s message past the 22:
- Be politically active: Join an environmental campaign (EarthDay.org has tons to choose from) and spread the word to more people. Keep contacting your representatives and take voting seriously. Your vote matters and so does who you vote for. Be sure to research candidates’ stances on environmental policy.
- Get educated: Research and learn about key environmental issues to better understand environmental policy and how your day-to-day activities might contribute to harming the planet. Currently, there are no national standards for environmental education so it is up to us to educate ourselves about what is happening to the earth we live on.
- Change how you live: Change starts small — and it starts with you! Help the environment by living an eco-friendly lifestyle. This connects to doing research on what actions yield negative consequences to the environment. Easy steps to take include eating less meat, recycling properly, avoiding single-use plastics, taking shorter showers, lowering the temperature on your heater, using energy-efficient light bulbs and switching to non-toxic cleaning products. Buy consciously, too, since you may be supporting environmentally harmful products and companies in the process.
- Become a citizen scientist: Participate in the Earth Challenge 2020 by installing the app that will instruct you on how to gather and report scientific data in your community. By doing so, you can help track air quality and plastic pollution.
- Establish an eco-ethical workplace: If you are currently job hunting, look into what actions companies take to reduce their carbon footprint. If you already have a job, institute environmentally friendly practices in your workplace. This could include a recycling and compost program, energy conservation, going paperless, supporting other green companies and suppliers, bringing in plants and encouraging sustainable transportation like carpooling. Why save your environmental activism for after-work hours? You could end up converting an entire business to sustainable practices.
Maria Marabito is a third-year English major with a minor in literature and diverse cultures. MM883631@wcupa.edu