Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.
Via EarthDay.org
The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action. The enormous challenge — but also the vast opportunities — of action on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary.
Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.
THE HISTORY OF EARTH DAY
Earth Day was a unified response to an environment in crisis — oil spills, smog, rivers so polluted they literally caught fire.
On April 22, 1970, as a 25-year old graduate student, Denis Hayes helped organize the the first Earth Day. The resounding success of that even, which brought out 20 million Americans — 10% of the U.S. population at the time — helped spark the modern environmental movement. Americans 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 recognized as the planet’s largest civic event.
WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR THIS YEAR’S EARTH DAY?
On Earth Day 2020, we must seize all the tools and actions that we have, big and small, to change our lives and change our world, not for one day, but forever.
While the coronavirus may force us to keep our distance, it will not force us to keep our voices down. The only thing that will change the world is a bold and unified demand for a new way forward.
We may be apart, but through the power of digital media, we’re also more connected than ever.
On April 22, join https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2020/ for 24 hours of action in a global digital mobilization that drives actions big and small, gives diverse voices a platform and demands bold action for people and the planet.
Over the 24 hours of Earth Day, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day will fill the digital landscape with global conversations, calls to action, performances, video teach-ins and more.
While Earth Day may be going digital, our goal remains the same: to mobilize the world to take the most meaningful actions to make a difference.
No matter where you are, you can make a difference. And you’re not alone, because together, we can save the Earth.
Visit earthday.org on April 22 as we build an Earth Day unlike any other — Earthday.org is flooding the digital landscape with livestreamed discussions, a global digital surge, and 24 hours of actions that you can take, right now and from wherever you are.
Image Credit: EarthDay.org