I laugh at myself for getting excited
about these Day events. Do Earth Hour, Earth Day and the like really make a difference,
and do we really care?
Maybe not in general, but I like to
think that I am doing my small part and stamping a tiny footprint somewhere on
this planet.
Being single, without children and a
very minimal consumer, I guess it’s easier for me to support and implement a
lot of environmental-friendly messages. I can imagine the difficulties for
families, but it is with children that the message should start and be taken
into the future.
Forty-two years ago, at the height of
hippie and flower child culture in the United States and around the world, 1970
brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon &
Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Protest was the order of the day, but saving the planet was not the cause. War
raged in Vietnam, which students in the U.S. were increasingly opposing while
we in the region were trying to make sense of the 1967 Six-Day War.
The first Earth Day, on April 22, 1970, activated
20 million Americans from all walks of life to speak out against the
deterioration of the environment and demand change. As a result, the
Environmental Protection Agency was created, the Clean Air, Clean Water, and
Endangered Species Acts were passed, and the modern environmental movement was
born.
Today, more than one billion people in
192 countries participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the
largest civic observance in the world. Yet there is still extensive global
inaction on pressing environmental problems.
Earth Day Network calls upon
individuals, organizations, businesses and governments to Mobilize the Earth and
demand that environmental issues become a top priority.
Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the
emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement
and putting environmental concerns front and center.
The idea came to Earth Day founder
Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, after witnessing the
ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. Inspired by
the student anti-war movement, Nelson realized that if he could infuse that
energy with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution, it
would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda.
Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to
recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Earth Day 2012 will act as a launch pad for
growing the environmental movement and will put forth a bold declaration demanding
immediate action to secure Renewable Energy for All and a sustainable future
for our planet.
The movement will involve individuals of
every age from all corners of the Earth, and will call upon local, national and
international leaders to put an end to fossil fuel subsidies, embrace renewable
energy technology, improve energy efficiency and make energy universally
accessible.
Individuals, organizations, businesses
and governments can voice their support for the A Billion Acts of Green® campaign
by performing environmental actions and lending their names to this global
referendum demanding change. The goal is to reach one billion actions by
the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June 2012, to
serve as a lever to address the UN’s inaction and inspire leaders to reach a
global agreement at the conference.
It is always my belief that educating
the youth about environmental sustainability can capture the attention of
students, teachers, parents, the community, and beyond. Earth Day 2012’s
education mission is simple: encourage as many students as possible to
participate in Earth Day activities that teach the importance of civic and
environmental responsibility.
Maybe Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is a good starting
point -- “I speak
for the trees, for the trees have no tongues…Unless someone like you cares a
whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” The book and
then the movie chronicle the plight of the environment and the Lorax, who
speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler.
To help children get involved in the
environmental movement, Earth Day Network has devised programs to incorporate
environmental education into the classroom with a collection of more than 300
environmentally themed lesson plans at www.earthday.org/network.
Sample lesson plans for grades K-3 to grades
9-12 show students:
- the bigger meaning of recycling by focusing on what is created from the process -- The Bigger Meaning of Recycling: Green Play Structures.
- the scope of the worldwide plastic bag problem, and provide them with ways to reduce plastic bag generation and waste --The Truth about Plastic Bags.
- examine the history of animal-based transportation and discover why many cultures increasingly rely on machines for transportation and contrast modern methods of transportation with those of the past to examine the pros and cons how transportation has developed in the modern world -- Before We Drove Cars We Rode Animals.
- research and “get to know” the six major air pollutants -- The Six Infamous Pollutants.
- audit their personal daily water usage and conservation. Through an introduction to the Kenyan village of Kapsasian, group mathematical problem solving, and class discussions, they will have a better understanding of the problems faced by those with lack of access to water -- Carrying Water.
- introduce students to the concepts of water pollution and access to clean water through class discussion and a water filtration experiment -- Filtering Water.
- gain background knowledge of the basic sources of air pollution, along with the overview of how air pollution affects our health and our environment -- Air Pollution 101.
There are many more that adults could
possibly benefit from too.
On this Earth Day, maybe we can channel
some of our efforts into building a clean, healthy, diverse world for children
and future generations. But do we care enough?
