Yesterday, April 22, was the official celebration of Earth Day and the theme chosen by EARTH.ORG for this year’s celebration was #RestoreOurEarth.
Similar to last year, #EarthDay2021 was honored virtually due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the celebration is different from the first ever celebration of Earth Day in 1970 that gathered over 20 million marching for climate action, this year’s online presence allowed for even more engagement and events to take place.
EARTH.ORG organized three days of climate action activities streaming online and kicked off Earth Day a few days early with a global youth climate summit featuring young climate activists such as Greta Thunberg. Later in the day, We Shall Breathe virtual summit event discussed the correlation of the current climate crisis, the pandemic, and racial justice concerns. On April 21, the focus was on educators and the vital role they play in sharing information with younger generations on the issues of climate change. This all led up to the Earth Day Live digital event yesterday with workshops, panel discussions, and other activities covering the following topics:1
- Natural processes, innovative thinking, and emerging green technologies
- Climate and environmental literacy
- Climate restoration technologies
- Reforestation efforts
- Regenerative agriculture
- Equity and environmental justice
- Citizen science
- Cleanups, and more
NASA also expanded Earth Day’s celebration to be a four-day free and online event from April 21-24, that included live talks, online games, videos, and downloadable posters and books. The activities allowed participants to ask live questions to climate change and NASA Earth experts and to play an online scavenger hunt.2
Climate change is an important priority of the Biden Administration and we have already seen action with the United States rejoining the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The White House also recently announced that it invited 40 world leaders to the “Leaders Summit on Climate” which took place yesterday and continues today. The summit is focusing on the urgency and economic benefits of a stronger climate action and is available to the public through a live stream.3
These events give us all an opportunity to learn how we are all #ConnectedByEarth.
1 https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2021/
2 https://www.nasa.gov/earth-day-2021
3 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/26/president-biden-invites-40-world-leaders-to-leaders-summit-on-climate/