This year marks the 50th anniversary of celebrating Earth Day, the environmental awareness movement that got 20 million Americans, and later the world to think about putting the planet’s needs before our own.
US senator Gaylord Nelson was the founder of Earth Day back in 1970 when he wanted to infuse the energy of students’ anti-war sentiment with raising consciousness about water and air pollution. In 1990, the movement went global. Fifty years on, the celebrations and the movement has adapted and is going digital.
If the worldwide lockdown precautions have proven anything, it is just how much human activities impact the planet. In a short period, we’ve seen air pollution decrease in China, Italy and India, the canals in Venice flowing clean and clear and a host of animals wandering around without the threat or commotion of human beings in their way.
Here are 3 ways the organisation wants you to celebrate Earth Day 2020:
1. Join the global digital surge
Everyone and anyone is encouraged to participate and inspire change by posting their activities and sharing their inspiring messages about the movement on social media using the hashtag #EarthDay2020. Become an activist and check out this cool media kit for awesome posters to help spread the word.
2. Watch Earth Day live
Tune in to the live Earth Day feed for a mix of rousing live performances, inspiring talks and messages and calls to action from the likes of Al Gore to celebs like Zac Efron.
3. Take 24 hours of action
Engage and heed a new call to action every hour on Earth Day via the live, online platforms.
Let’s band together as a country and together online. Don’t forget this important message behind Earth Day: ‘It’s not a day, it’s a movement.’
Earth Day posters, featuring artwork by Jackie Fawn, Iliana Galvez and Ernesto Yerena Montejano.
Don’t forget that in some very simple ways, Earth Day can be your opportunity to commit to more sustainable practices, and what better time than during lockdown.
Adopt these 6 green ways that are easier on the planet:
Compost and minimise food waste
Composting organic matter and waste from your home not only minimises the waste that goes to landfill and contributes to carbon emissions, but helps create a zero-waste system that’ll nourish the soil, especially your garden!
Also read: 7 easy gardening hacks you should know
Support local travel
Travel locally and discover the wonders of your own country, tourist traps and all.
Refill to refuel
Take your reusable containers along when shopping and stock up on your essentials without all the nasty packaging. Join the global refill movement’s return to simpler, cleaner living. Here are the places you can go to stock up in SA and parts of Southern Africa.
Join the eco-brick revolution
Once again, this nifty little trick makes your rubbish disappear and also helps reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfill. Find out how to create your own eco-brick here.
Embrace the double zero
Commit to a lifestyle of zero waste and zero plastic by implementing some of these tips and save money in the long run while you’re at it.
Also read: 10 tips for living with less plastic
Ditch these items
It’s still very much worth emphasising that eliminating items such as plastic carrier bags and plastic straws is still a simple but instrumental way of making a difference.
Image by Rachel Robinson – Villiersdorp
Celebrate or join in around South Africa. Here are some of the affiliated live Earth Day events taking place locally:
Earth Day Live Meditation
Join Hypnotherapy Cape Town at 10am for a 20–30min meditation on Earth Day and unity amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Earth Kids Take Action for Earth Day
Tune in for the screening of a short film from Earth Kids TV, a creative kids film school based in Cape Town. You can access the Earth Kids 2020 archive from the comfort of your home.
Earth Day school teach-ins
The youth are the future, and in Grabouw, Cape Town, the Grade 7 learners at Applewood Preparatory School will be teaching their peers from other classrooms and throughout the school about relevant environmental topics. Parents and teachers stuck at home, is this something you can implement with your kids?
Aurora Africa online talks
Emerge from the lockdown and this informative 45-minute session with the tools to tackle SA’s environmental challenges. Tune in to listen to Michelle Henley talk about the Elephants Alive Bees & Trees Project in Hoedspruit, Michele Hofmeyr’s peppertree conservation project in Kruger National Park and KwaZulu-Natal, find out about non-chemical pesticides and compete in the lockdown eco-brick challenge. Join this talk for R50. Durban and Northern KZN participants get a free pepperbark tree. auroraafrica.co.za
Image: NASA archive [released 17 October 2000]
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