Earth Day 2022 is right around the corner, happening this Friday April 22. When Earth Day was founded 52 years ago, it had some pretty intense imagery as inspiration and motivation for the movement, including the Cuyahoga River lighting on fire and the release of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. This really fired up the populace and led to a wave of environmental legislation in the US. The political and social landscape of the US then was of course different from how it is today, but I daresay that between massive ice sheets calving off of the poles, all-consuming wildfires across the West, and scientists constantly telling us that Action Must Be Taken Now, it seems like we should have more than enough material to be inspired as a people to take mass action, and that such action should lead to meaningful legislation. I’m grateful that much has changed from the 1970s (hello a more inclusive society, good-bye wide lapels), but it’s hard not to be a little nostalgic for a time when creating a livable environment was at least on the government docket. (Not entirely sure if I can be nostalgic for a time I never experienced, but the sentiment remains. I digress.)
As you might guess, lots of great actions are taking place this week as a result of it being Earth Week, including:
A ten-day-long mobilization in NYC by Extinction Rebellion: As the World Looks Up, We Rise Up!
A week-long phone bank with the Environmental Voter Project to talk with what they call “non-voting environmentalists” in AZ about voting in the upcoming election. (There are more phone banks in future weeks happening in other states as well.)
As I mentioned last week, there are Fight For Our Future Marches happening all around the US this Saturday. You can find one near you here.
Sign a petition with Greenpeace to ask Biden to ban new oil and gas permits on public lands
And so many more actions– which you can explore on our Climate Action Explorer!
In addition to a lot of actions this week, there is also some really great journalism out there as well, including:
Culture-Building as Climate Work by Whitney Bauck in Atmos
An op-ed in The Guardian by climate-scientist Peter Kalmus: “Climate scientists are desperate: we’re crying, begging and getting arrested”
Blue State Activists Are Working to Decarbonize Trillions: And they don’t need Joe Manchin’s permission by Nathan Newman in The Nation
An essay about organizing by Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate in Atmos
A new poll from Ipsos about citizens’ concerns about climate and understandings of government action
Let’s do Earth Day right and get this climate action show on the road!