Today is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. We’re in the middle of a global pandemic (COVID-19, in case you’re reading this far into the future), and many of us are living with orders to “shelter at home.” As such, most planned events for the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day are cancelled, or reconstructed to comply with requirements for social distancing.
The first Earth Day was organized by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who was inspired by student anti-war protests and saw potential for a similar kind of protest about the ravages of environmental pollution. Initially planned as a mass teach-in on college campuses, the idea expanded and brought more than 20 million people together in collective public action “to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development which had left a growing legacy of serious human health impacts. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment and there were massive coast-to-coast rallies in cities, towns, and communities.” (Source: https://www.earthday.org/history/)
This year, the Earth Day Network website announced their “2020 Earth Day Theme” of Climate Action, and states the following:
“The enormous challenges – but also the vast opportunities – of acting on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary year. [...]
Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable. Unless every country in the world steps up – and steps up with urgency and ambition – we are consigning current and future generations to a dangerous future.
Earth Day 2020 will be far more than a day. It must be a historic moment when citizens of the world rise up in a united call for the creativity, innovation, ambition, and bravery that we need to meet our climate crisis and seize the enormous opportunities of a zero-carbon future.”
While I might agree that “climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity,” I get a little cynical when the sentiment is presented within a context deemed the “Theme” of Earth Day. And I’m additionally cynical about the invitations I’ve been receiving to participate in a beach clean up or join an online summit to connect with others to express why and how I care for the environment, to share hope for the future.
My cynicism comes from many things, but perhaps mainly from a sense that Earth Day often feels like a celebration rather than a protest, an invitation to a party rather than a call to action. Honestly, if I had been tasked with coming up for the “Theme” for this Earth Day, it probably would have been “Too Little, Too Late.” Because, well, … here we are. Despite the success of the first Earth Day, the ongoing efforts of the environmental movement have been largely eclipsed by the overwhelming onslaught of the global industrial complex. Over the last 50 years the toll on human and planetary health from human-induced pollution, extraction and willful destruction of habitat has brought us to a literal tipping point. The climate crisis is connected to the many other systemic crises of our time: geographic, racial and economic injustice and inequity; individual and public health frailties; and the pervasive and systemic erosion of the commons, usually in favor of corporate interests.
The scale and scope of the problems embedded in this climate crisis are almost incomprehensible. And yet, we must comprehend. We have perhaps a decade to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions across all sectors before the myriad impacts of this crisis make life on earth inhospitable if not inhabitable for the majority of humans and other species. At this point, every day that massive action isn’t taken is a day lost from the very limited amount of time remaining before even the most significant actions will not be effective.
I must confess that despite my irritation with “Earth Day,” I am still committed to participating in calls to action to address the climate crisis and our rampant economically exploitative and racially unjust systems of resource management, commerce, government, and education. This pandemic has exposed these injustices and inequities in a different and more glaring light, and the fact that I have the privilege to contemplate my reaction to Earth Day and to write about it only serves to underscore the need for people like me to work harder.
So, I will set my cynicism aside and find something to do that feels more in alignment with the mission of the first Earth Day: “to demonstrate against the impacts of 150 years of industrial development which have left a growing legacy of serious human health impacts.”
This looks like a worthwhile call to action: https://www.earthdaylive2020.org/.