(ORDO NEWS) — Every year on April 22, International Earth Day is celebrated, marking the beginning of the modern environmental movement. It also celebrates the diversity of the environment and highlights the importance and ways to protect our planet.
When we hear “climate change“, we know that there is someone far away who cares about environmental issues.
Special organizations are engaged in this, and entire corporations are involved in important initiatives. The trend towards environmental friendliness is sustainable, useful and always relevant. But Earth Day aims to emphasize that everyone can take part in change.
History of Earth Day
Earth Day was established in 1970 and is celebrated every year. Then 20 million Americans – 10% of the US population at the time – came together to demonstrate the importance of strengthening our planet’s defense.
The platform now works with more than 150,000 partners in more than 192 countries, and 1 billion people are involved in initiatives.
Earth Day celebrates our planet and highlights the responsibility of various industries for their role in the environmental crisis and impact on the environment.
Ecology is a priority
Environmental issues have become so urgent and widespread that scientists and environmental organizations alike say that addressing climate change is more urgent than ever.
The US Environmental Protection Agency notes that 1970 was a very different world for everyone. At that time, not only was there no relevant legislation, international environmental cooperation and organizations, but in general “there were no legal or regulatory mechanisms for protecting the environment.”
However, the international community already knew the damage that chemicals do to the environment. This began to change in 1969, when the concept of Earth Day was first announced in the United States in the fall of 1969, and after massive public support, the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970.
Each Earth Day has a specific theme: 2020 was “the fight against climate change”, and the slogan of 2021 was “Restore our Earth”.
Environmental problems need to be addressed and everyone can join
According to the official website, the theme of Earth Day 2022 is “Invest in our planet”. This topic is not only meant to discuss the individual steps we can take to make the Earth a cleaner place, but also to talk about how we spend money on companies that are serious about protecting the environment.
Companies should join the initiatives
EarthDay.org is asking companies to take the Environmental Social Governance (ESG) standard seriously after discussing it two years ago. In 2020, at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 120 major companies committed to adhering to the four pillars of ESG:
- Control
- Planet
- People
- Prosperity
The forum also prepared a report with more detailed information on selected indicators. For example, under the Planet pillar, key metrics companies can follow include reporting on greenhouse gas emissions, land use and environmental sensitivity, water consumption, air pollution, single-use plastics, and solid waste disposal, to name but a few.
While protecting our planet has always been the theme of Earth Day, the call to awareness is becoming more relevant every year.
In August 2021, scientists around the world published the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Governments on Climate Change (IPCC), which shows the state of affairs with human-induced climate change.
This latest report was so disturbing that António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, called it “code red for humanity.” Guterres noted that the IPCC has been asking for years to limit global warming around the world to 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to the 2021 report, the average is already 1.2 degrees.
Global warming affects all regions of the Earth, and many changes are becoming irreversible … The only way to prevent this threshold from being exceeded is to urgently step up our efforts and go on an ambitious path. Guterres urged in his statement.
While experts sometimes disagree on the impacts of climate change, the climate community is in complete agreement with the fact that they are happening and that they are linked to human activities.
The IPCC is one of the tools by which experts seek to minimize and manage the devastating effects of climate change, which will no doubt continue for many decades to come.
Earth Day celebrates the need to protect the planet
Space observation
Taking one aspect of global change monitoring used in IPCC reports, we can point to the value of Earth observation satellites that observe the effects of climate change from space.
Satellites can observe the effects of wildfires, ice melt, seasonal warming or landslides, increased flooding, and other impacts of climate change. Governments and organizations use satellites and artificial intelligence to predict crops, sea levels, extreme weather events that have a direct impact on people and the ecosystem.
This is an important link in the chain of control over the situation on Earth. In general, humanity has a number of tools, the use of which can significantly improve the ecological situation, but this requires a cohesive work in one direction, and most importantly, a sincere and persistent desire to truly protect our planet.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.