The world celebrates Earth Day on April 22 every year since 1970, a year that marks the birth of modern environmental protection. The idea was first proposed by peace activist John McConnell at a 1969 UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, with the goal of honoring our home planet and the concept of peace at the same time, understandably, as they go hand in hand, since We are Earth.

After witnessing the massive damages of a huge oil spill the same year in Santa Barbara, California, and inspired by the millions of students who took to the streets on April 22 to demonstrate against the deterioration of our natural habitat in coast-to-coast anti-war and pro-environment protests, US Senator Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day, raising environmental protection to the level of national political agenda, announcing the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” to the national media. This also meant that groups who had been rallying against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, the loss of wilderness and extinction of wildlife could band together, realizing that they share common values. This originally American initiative became international in 1990 and spread worldwide. Today it includes events in more than 193 countries.

“On Earth Day, we celebrate all the gifts the world and nature make available to us. We recognize our complete dependence on its bounty. And we acknowledge the need for good stewardship to preserve its fruits for future generations.” – John Hoeven

When Earth Day started, the major environmental issues were water and air pollution. Last year’s theme was ‘End Plastic Pollution’, and perhaps we can say that our awareness of all kinds of pollution that we are causing, and how big a problem plastic, as one, has become, is globally growing. More and more of us are working on reshaping our lifestyles in light of this, and we see a growing number of countries joining the fight for environmental protection through bans on single-use plastics, and investment in renewable energy sources, to name just few of the environmentally mindful endeavors.

We are also fortunate  to see positive results of Earth-protective measures, like the 1987 Montreal Protocol, a global treaty to protect our ozone layer, without which the Earth would be flooded by ultraviolet rays and radiation. According to a UN assessment, the ozone layer is back on track to recovery and scientists say it could fully heal by the upcoming mid-century.

A similarly vital landmark agreement, the Paris Agreement to combat climate change and intensify actions and investments towards a sustainable low carbon future, entered into force on November 4, 2016, with an increasing number of countries ratifying the Agreement since, 185 Parties of the 197 Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change so far.

However, just like at the time of the first Earth Day, and almost half a century later(!), our world still needs the change-demanding, motivational force of students, it sadly seems. The recent School strike for climate (Fridays for Future, Youth for Climate and Youth Strike 4 Climate), an international movement of school students against further global warming and climate change prove as much, thanks to the now 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg.

The recent Notre Dame fire donations controversy also brought to surface some of the faults in our human systems, and some of the reasons that are still pulling us back from world-unified world-care priorities.

Ghandi said: “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.”

It is predominantly due to greed, in various forms, that we suffer from, alongside all life on and of Earth.

Based on a study highlighting humanity’s “radical ecological effects”, led by Prof Ron Milo of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2018, humanity – making up  just 0.01% of all biomass on Earth – has managed to kill 83% of all wild mammals and half of all plants. Of all birds left 70% are poultry chicken and farmed birds, of all mammals 96% are livestock and humans, only 4% are wild animals, and marine animal extinction is also happening at alarming rates.

Humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles since 1970, leading the world’s foremost experts to warn that the annihilation of wildlife is now an emergency that threatens civilisation. The new estimate of the massacre of wildlife is made in a major report produced by WWF and involving 59 scientists from across the globe. It finds that the vast and growing consumption of food and resources by the global population is destroying the web of life, billions of years in the making, upon which human society ultimately depends for clean air, water and everything else.
“We are sleepwalking towards the edge of a cliff” said Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF. “If there was a 60% decline in the human population, that would be equivalent to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania. That is the scale of what we have done.”
“This is far more than just being about losing the wonders of nature, desperately sad though that is,” he said. “This is actually now jeopardising the future of people. Nature is not a ‘nice to have’ – it is our life-support system.”
Source: The Guardian

Understandably, the 2019 Earth Day theme is ‘Protect our Species’, and each of us can contribute to saving the millions of species on the planet, acting against what scientists are calling the 6th mass extinction on Earth, but the first to be caused by our decisions, life choices, mindset and faulty systems.

Nature’s gifts to our planet are the millions of species that we know and love, and many more that remain to be discovered. Unfortunately, human beings have irrevocably upset the balance of nature and, as a result, the world is facing the greatest rate of extinction since we lost the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago. But unlike the fate of the dinosaurs, the rapid extinction of species in our world today is the result of human activity.
The unprecedented global destruction and rapid reduction of plant and wildlife populations are directly linked to causes driven by human activity: climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution and pesticides to name a few. The impacts are far reaching.
All living things have an intrinsic value, and each plays a unique role in the complex web of life. We must work together to protect endangered and threatened species: bees, coral reefs, elephants, giraffes, insects, whales and more.
The good news is that the rate of extinctions can still be slowed, and many of our declining, threatened and endangered species can still recover if we work together now to build a united global movement of consumers, voters, educators, faith leaders, and scientists to demand immediate action. Earth Day Network is asking people to join our Protect our Species campaign.
Source: Earth Day Network

Earth Day is every day, every breath you take.

“If we are ever to halt climate change and conserve land, water and other resources, not to mention reduce animal suffering, we must celebrate Earth Day every day – at every meal.” – Ingrid Newkirk

Taking even the smallest step today can make a change, and hopefully empowered by the benefits of our information technology era we can truly start laying down solid foundations for a New Normal.

Here are some suggestions of actions you can take in line with sustainable development goals, published in the UN’s “The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World”:

– Save electricity by plugging appliances into a power strip and turning them off completely when not in use, including your computer.
– Buy minimally packaged goods.
– Take short showers. Bathtubs require gallons more water than a 5-10 minute shower.
– Composting food scraps can reduce climate impact while also recycling nutrients.
– Let your hair and clothes dry naturally instead of running a machine. If you do wash your clothes, make sure the load is full.
– Eat less meat, poultry, and fish. More resources are used to provide meat than plants.
– Plan meals — use shopping lists and avoid impulse buys. Don’t succumb to marketing tricks that lead you to buy more food than you need, particularly for perishable items.
– Bike, walk or take public transport. Save the car trips for when you’ve got a big group.
– Use a refillable water bottle and coffee cup.

Picture credit: Gaia’s Lovers by new 1lluminati