50th Annual Earth Day

April 22 marks the 50th annual Earth Day. The first was envisioned by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson as a teach-in about environmental degradation. You can read a good history of the event at the Earth Day 2020 website. Most importantly, a dozen or so strong environmental bills and agencies came from the awareness raised by this national wake-up call.

In 1970, the fear was poison in the air and water and pollution. If we stopped using DDT and lead, the environment could recover. If we started recycling plastic, it wouldn't end up in waterways and roadsides. We could change and change would make a difference.

This year, it's different. In addition to all the 1970 concerns, because gains against greed are never fully won, we have now to deal with mass extinction and the climate crisis. 

And we have the coronavirus so we must find different ways to continue our Earth advocacy. 

However, we have to find a way not just to commemorate Earth Day but to dedicate our efforts to making the major changes needed to reduce carbon emissions and slow the rise of global heating. We all need to get it this time. It's not just changing a light bulb. It's removing a natural gas heating system. It's replacing a fossil fueled vehicle. It's rethinking our meals, our work habits, our energy use, our vacations, our consumption, our use of plastics, our investments, our priorities. It's pushing for major changes in our city and in our state and in our country.

• Participate in Earth Day Online.
• Support the Youth Climate Action Team's Earth Days of Action
• Defeat Donald Trump and all Republicans who have enabled him

Watch and Share

• Climate Change: The Facts on Wisconsin Public Television
• The Story of Plastic on April 22 on the Discovery Channel
• Check this list from Yale Climate Connections

Educate yourself and others

• Climate Change: The Science and Global Impact - a FREE online course with Prof. Michael Mann 
• Read through the new Clean Energy Toolkit and insist that your community moves to clean energy as quickly as possible 
• Learn about the Green New Deal
• Find out how you can decrease your home fossil fuel energy use
• Discover the environmental benefits of Electric Vehicles
• Change your diet!
• Challenge and push back against climate change deniers. 
• Vote against candidates who do not make climate crisis their top priority.

There is no perfect solution. But we have to try.

Public discourse has been polluted now for decades by corporate-funded disinformation - not just with climate change but with a host of health, environmental and societal threats. The implications for the planet are grim. Michael E. Mann
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/michael-e-mann-quotes