Organizations Take to the Internet to Celebrate Earth Day
Photo via Needpix.com
This coming Earth Day marks the 50 year anniversary of Earth Day in 1970, when individuals gathered across the United States for a “national teach-in on the environment.” Somewhere around 20 million individuals gathered in various capacities to educate themselves and others on the degradation of the environment. With the global COVID-19 pandemic still well underway in the United States, many organizations are taking to the Internet to celebrate Earth Day.
The official Earth Day website has set up a platform for individuals to host their own digital Earth Day events. Organizations and individuals have registered events all over the globe, from providing plants for individuals to safely plant on their own to Zoom Webinars for Faith Climate Week. For those who aren’t up to attending a digital event, home activity and education resources are available, too. The Earth Day website has deemed the theme of this 2020 Earth Day climate action.
To encourage Earth Day donations leading up to it, the Sierra Club had a fun little perk for any donation: a free t-shirt. Unfortunately, these t-shirts have sold out, but donations are still being accepted. Besides this, the Sierra Club has a host of other ways to get involved, like a list of sustainable practices from composting to eating less meat, and a link out to the U.S. Youth Climate Strike Coalition’s 72 hour livestream.
The 72 hour broadcast mentioned above is hosted by both the U.S Climate Strike Coalition and the Stop The Money Pipeline Coalition, together making up over 500 organizations. The three day broadcast will have celebrity guests from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Al Gore, and Bill Mckibben, to Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz. Each day of the broadcast has a goal, starting with Earth Day: community building and unity, a call for a global reset, and nationwide voter registration, respectively.
NASA had multiple events leading up to Earth Day, including a podcast episode dedicated to our planet on Monday the 13th, the ability to explore 20 years of satellite images of the Earth on the 15th, and on the 16th, they debuted a list of tons of different activities to do on Earth day. These include mapping 3D coral reef views, voting for your favorite images of our planet in Tournament Earth, and looking at various posters and images related to Earth available for download straight from NASA.
From April 20th to April 26th this Chicago area film festival will be holding a virtual mini festival. Registry for these films to be viewed at home is available on their website linked above. They also provide Earth Day entertainment geared toward children.
Northwestern is offering a whole month of activities for Earth Day this year. Participants can join in on a campus eco-challenge, submit art or research for an Earth Month Gallery, take part in citizen science projects, and more.