Earth Day: an urgent call to take care of our planet

In order to realize the need to protect the planet from pollution and overexploitation of natural resources, the world is celebrated today. Earth Day.

The origin of this date dates back to the late 1960s. It all began in 1968 when Professor Morton Hilbert and the US Public Health Service organized a conference on effects of environmental degradation on health.

From this episode, Hilbert and his students decided to dedicate a day to environmental awareness, taking as a model the protests against the Vietnam War. During these years, environmental problems were not present in the agenda of American politicians, which irritated the Wisconsin Senator, Gaylord Nelson, who joined Hilbert's initiative with the Project for Survival promoted by Northwestern University to convene the first day of the earth.

It was 1970 and Nelson organized a day of rallies throughout the United States to request the creation of an agency in charge of environmental protection. One of his goals was to get the maximum participation from professors and university students. He therefore thought of the week of April 20 to 26, because it did not coincide with exams or spring break. And he chose Wednesday to consider that there would be more students on campus that day because of the weekend away.

On April 22, 1970, the Senator dubbed this day Earth Day., accepting the advice of Julian Koenig, one of his friends who worked as an advertising manager.

Despite criticism, thousands of schools in the United States (from elementary school to university) have joined Earth Day, which means that 20 million people will participate in the rallies. This social pressure has led the US government to found the Environmental Protection Agency and promote a set of laws focused on the environment.

Two years later, was held the first world summit on the environment: the Stockholm conference. "The Stockholm spirit" has served to raise awareness, albeit insufficiently, of governments and civil society about the scale of the problems affecting the environment in which our lives are evolving, but there is no doubt that the The action and recommendations emanating from Stockholm have not yet resulted in decisive action.

In 1990, Earth Day is again organized, this time around the world. The celebration was a success: more than 1,000 NGOs organized events in 140 countries and it is estimated that they participated in about 200 million people. As at the first celebration two years later, another world summit is held.

The United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development of Rio de Janeiro, 1992This conference raised great hopes and was the largest conference ever organized, not only in number of participants, but also in the presence of heads of government. But expectations have not been met, missing a unique opportunity to change course to build a fairer, safer, more prosperous and more sustainable world.

The appeal has been consolidated year after year. And in 2009, at the request of Bolivia, The United Nations is organizing 22 April the International Mother Earth Day in "the recognition that the Earth and its ecosystems support our lives".

Since then, this day is celebrated every year with the participation of more than one billion people in 180 countries around the world, according to Rogers data.

Kathleen Rogers, president of the Washington Earth Day Organization and one of the organization's founding founders, said that one of the main reasons for choosing April 22, 1970 as the first Earth Day, as this year fell on a Wednesday, the ideal day of the week to hold an environmental event across the country.

"Everything worked perfectly, because everyone attended the demonstration at the end of their working day," said Kathleen Rogers, president of the Earth Day organization in Washington.
"It was a kind of frenzy, telegrams, letters and phone calls came from all over the country," Nelson wrote in an essay shortly before his death in July 2005, at the age of 89.

"The American people finally had a forum to express their concerns about what was happening with the land, the rivers, the lakes and the air, and it did so dramatically," he said. -he adds.

Current environmental problems go beyond polluted air, toxic water and holes in the ozone layer, the main demands made in 1970.

Climate change is the big environmental challenge we face today. Although since the beginning of the 1980s it has already been mentioned as a serious threat for the planet, it is only in recent years that we have become aware of its gravity and the natural disasters it could engender and in the long run.

In addition to irreversible environmental damage, climate change also has a direct impact on the migratory movements that we currently observe in various parts of the planet, as well as in food crises, territorial wars or increasing inequalities, for to name a few.

The 5 most urgent problems to solve

1) Greenhouse Gases (GHG): According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the levels of greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere have reached a new record. There is no sign of reversal of this trend, which triggers long-term climate change, rising sea levels, ocean acidification and a greater number of waterways. extreme weather events.

The WMO Bulletin on Greenhouse Gases revealed that the global average concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) had increased from 400.1 parts per million (ppm) in 2015 to 403.3 ppm in 2016 at 405.5. ppm in 2017. Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide also increased, while CFC-11 reappeared, a potent greenhouse gas depleting ozone layer regulated under the umbrella. an international agreement to protect the ozone layer.

Since 1990, total radiative forcing – which has a warming effect on the climate – has increased by 41% because of the long life span of greenhouse gases. CO2 is responsible for 82% of the increase in radiative forcing over the past decade, according to figures provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. America, cited in the WMO Bulletin.

2) Disappearance of water sources: Rivers, lakes, rivers and even seas have dried up in recent decades due to climate change. And many others remain contaminated and pose a serious risk to human and animal health. Parallel to this phenomenon, one can also see the increase of the desert areas and the increasing migration of the population towards the large urban centers.

3) Deforestation: In the last 10 years, no less than 13 million hectares have been destroyed. It is estimated that more than half of what we observe today has been destroyed since 1990. In addition, trees are dying at an accelerated rate because of air pollution, drought caused by nearby water sources and sudden changes in temperature. In very few countries there are alternative programs for seeding, restocking and protection of arable land.

4) Overexploitation of natural resources: By 2050, we will be 10,000 million people living on the only known planet capable of supporting life as we know it. But at this rate of growth, natural resources will soon no longer be sufficient for the survival of the inhabitants of the Earth. The overexploitation of resources, irresponsible consumption and the increase in the world's population, which have tripled over the last 60 years and continue to grow at an accelerated rate, are the main causes of this depletion. The water and energy available will not be enough to meet these needs.

5) Use of chemical fertilizers and artificial cultivation methods: Droughts, hurricanes and other environmental phenomena prevent the production and cultivation of food under normal conditions. In order to modify these effects and multiply production, natural production methods have been replaced by others, of artificial type, in which the use of chemical substances is predominant. These cultivation methods degrade the quality of food and harm our health and the environment as they contaminate food, soil and air.

What to do during Earth Day?

Rogers encourages the public to publicly commit to taking an environmental action with everyone involved in the environment on April 22nd.

Engaging for the ideas promoted by the Earth Day platform involves educating friends and family on global warming or buying organic products. And basically, learn the three Rs rule: reuse, reuse, and recycle.

"The commitment is the maximum of the initiative that continues throughout the year, the Green Generation, which led us to a new call for Earth Day in 2018, which wins year after year, "he said.
According to Rogers, they are all part of this generation that marks the transition from the industrial revolution to the green revolution.

"It's also about generating energy and green jobs … Every time you talk about" Green Generation ", people know what ideas you're referring to, and that's what it's all about. exactly what we want, "he concluded.