Join daily news updates from CleanTechnica on e mail. Or follow us on Google News!
The world is within the midst of drastic environmental modifications — greater than any activist feared when Earth Day was first commemorated. Earth Day 2024 is a chance for communities to come back collectively to rejoice the world on which we stay. First held on April 22, 1970 as a part of the delivery of the environmental motion, the occasion, which is now celebrated in over 190 nations, has taken on elevated urgency — it now asks individuals all over the world to look at our affect on the altering setting and demand a push towards a sustainable future.
Every year, Earth Day is a key second for elevating consciousness and driving change in environmental coverage and attitudes. Dozens of cleanups, celebrations, industries, and occasions had been held this yr to rejoice the vacation. What sorts of efforts did we see on this Earth Day 2024 from activists, organizations, and governments?
Chip in a number of {dollars} a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to speed up the cleantech revolution!
EarthDay.org, which coordinates a variety of Earth day 2024 occasions globally, set an Earth Day 2024 theme of “Planet vs Plastics.” The group cites scientists who state that microplastics in our our bodies could also be answerable for all the things from most cancers to autism to Alzheimer’s to delivery defects to falling fertility charges. Pressuring the oil, fuel, and plastics industries to disclose what they find out about such interconnections between microplastics and illness, the group is asking of us to ship a letter to Dow Inc., the third largest plastics producer, and ask them to launch any research or data they’ve on the well being impacts related to the total life cycle of plastics. You may sign the EDO Global Plastics Treaty petition so as to add your voice to assist mobilize international motion in counteracting plastic air pollution and its far-reaching penalties.
In 10 years from now, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse will pose one of many best dangers to the financial system, pure sources, and folks, concludes the World Financial Discussion board. Partially, that loss is as a result of governments allocate $1.8 trillion yearly to environmentally dangerous subsidies, which ends up in a further $5 trillion in personal funding for industries like fossil fuels and industrial agriculture. The Kunming-Montreal World Biodiversity Framework goals to section out $500 billion in dangerous subsidies by 2030 and mobilize $200 billion yearly for biodiversity conservation.
US President Joe Biden traveled to Triangle, Virginia to mark Earth Day 2024, the place he unveiled $7 billion in grant funding for solar energy underneath the Inflation Discount Act. The EPA program will award 60 recipients of the brand new $7 billion funding within the “Solar for All” program, which goals to decrease vitality prices and scale back air pollution in deprived communities throughout the nation by serving to 900,000 low-income households set up rooftop photo voltaic. The President additionally introduced new steps to assist his administration’s American Climate Corps. The President additionally established the primary nationwide conservation purpose to guard, preserve, and restore no less than 30% of US lands and waters by 2030.
On Earth Day 2024, the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of the American Indian presented “Youth In Action: Indigenous Ecosystems,” a dialog with Seneca Johnson (Mvskoke) and Sgaahl Siid Xyáahl Jaad (Marina Anderson (Haida/Tlingit)) moderated by Jade Begay (Tesuque Pueblo/Diné). Indigenous individuals who name upon time-honored practices to with the pure world’s rhythms could have some options to maneuver the planet to a extra resilient future. An Earth Day 2024 article within the Washington Publish chronicled indigenous practices from subsistence waffle gardens to cultural burns, group irrigation methods, forests as carbon sinks, dryland farming, restoring salmon runs, utilizing resilient seeds, shellfish gardens, and resilient design — all of which keep in tune with ecosystems and communities.
NASA officers announced 6 new airborne missions that can give attention to arctic coastal change, climate created by wildfires, city air air pollution, impacts of adjusting climate patterns on landscapes, retreating glaciers, and agriculture. Altogether, NASA will spend about $120 million on the 6 missions, which can deploy from 2026 to 2029.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute held its sixteenth annual sustainability awards showcase and the Sustainable Profession Truthful. WPI is actively rising a sustainable group that’s residing and studying with a mindset of sustainability. Most lately, WPI’s change in vitality sourcing and its purpose of turning into carbon impartial is an instance of how WPI is utilizing new applied sciences and new methods of managing its energy era. It’s been proposed that WPI go even a little bit additional, connecting its use of SDGs to ESG applications in enterprise, or how Fin Tech is getting used or may be used to measure, report, and handle enterprise’ affect on environmental and social points.
SubjectToClimate’s Earth Day Instructor Information provided helpful sources for educators to make use of to show about local weather change and environmental safety. Additionally, Microsoft has designed Search Progress for constructing data literacy abilities as college students journey by the historical past and significance of Earth Day.
The Raya number one nonprofit group devoted to advancing net-zero transportation and vitality infrastructure, launched its annual report — State of The Ray 2023. The Ray was awarded $5.1 million to offer technical help, planning, and capacity-building to fifteen networked communities. These communities, positioned close to key transportation hubs, will obtain assist in advancing transportation initiatives that align with community-driven financial improvement, well being, setting, mobility, and entry targets.
Enterprise Insider identified 19 cities that “do Earth Day right.” Among the many highlights:
- Austin, TX was decided to be the greenest metropolis within the US, based on ListShack.
- San Francisco, CA organized its annual pageant this yr with the theme, “Stand for the Redwoods/Stand for the Future” and supplied a local weather rally.
- Japan is essentially the most eco-friendly nation in Asia, based on Yale’s Environmental Performance Index.
- Barcelona threw a memorable Earth Truthful at Parc Central de Nou Barris, which included a farmers’ market, artisan distributors, and workshops and conferences on environmental schooling.
Closing Ideas
April 22 was chosen as Earth Day as a result of it marks the start of spring within the Northern Hemisphere and the tip of autumn within the Southern Hemisphere. In its earliest days in addition to in the present day, “reduce, reuse, and recycle” have been popular strategies to help save the Earth. And, whereas that form of individual action for a healthy planet is beautiful and noble, limiting international temperature rise to 1.5 levels Celsius in the end is determined by placing an finish to fossil fuels.
Because the United Nations’ Secretary-Basic António Guterres insists“Every person on earth must be connected to clean, affordable power by 2030. And every community and country must benefit from the transition to clean, cheap renewables.” We should proceed to come back collectively on this Earth Day 2024 and everyday to continue the fight to End the Era of Fossil Fuels.
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Wish to promote? Wish to counsel a visitor for our CleanTech Speak podcast? Contact us here.
Newest CleanTechnica.TV Video
CleanTechnica makes use of affiliate hyperlinks. See our coverage here.