Earth Day was yesterday, when I was writing this Renewable Tuesday post, so I decided to do an All-Earth-Day day for today to celebrate the Earth, the day, and everybody taking action to rescue us all from climate catastrophe, corporate Fossil Foolishness, and MAGAmania.
Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG (formerly Earth Day Network)[1] including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.[2][1][3] The official theme for 2024 is "Planet vs. Plastics." 2025 will be the 55th anniversary of Earth Day.[4][5]
In 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco, peace activist John McConnell proposed a day to honor the Earth and the concept of peace, to first be observed on March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. This day of nature's equipoise was later sanctioned in a proclamation written by McConnell and signed by Secretary General U Thant at the United Nations.
A month later, United States Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in on April 22, 1970. He hired a young activist, Denis Hayes, to be the National Coordinator. Nelson and Hayes renamed the event "Earth Day". Denis and his staff grew the event beyond the original idea for a teach-in to include the entire United States.
Key non-environmentally focused partners played major roles. Under the leadership of labor leader Walter Reuther, for example, the United Auto Workers (UAW) was the most instrumental outside financial and operational supporter of the first Earth Day.[6][7][8] According to Hayes: "Without the UAW, the first Earth Day would have likely flopped!"[9]
Nelson was later awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work.[10][11] The first Earth Day was focused on the United States. In 1990, Denis Hayes, the original national coordinator in 1970, took it international and organized events in 141 nations.[12][13][14]
On Earth Day 2016, the landmark Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and 120 other countries. This signing satisfied a key requirement for the entry into force of the historic draft climate protection treaty adopted by consensus of the 195 nations present at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Numerous communities engaged in Earth Day Week actions, an entire week of activities focused on the environmental issues that the world faces.[15]
On Earth Day 2020, over 100 million people around the world observed the 50th anniversary in what is being referred to as the largest online mass mobilization in history.[3] A similar but separate event, World Environment Day, is organized by the United Nations and observed annually on June 5.
But seriously , what has nature ever done for us ? You know , apart from the air we breathe , the food we eat , making us healthier . . .
Brilliant new ad from @zerohour_uk to promote their Climate & Nature Bill campaign , take action at http://zerohour.uk#EarthDay
H/T Monty Python/Life of Brian
It's Earth Day, and I'm so glad Joe is our president.We're moving towards a healthier future, with less fossil fuels, and more new green jobs.
Win win! Let's have 4 more years!
#BidenHarris4MoreYears #Voterizer
Meme Team: Truth Memes for Democracy
@MADMemeTeam
Electric school buses are cleaner + healthier for kids, quieter for communities & better for our planet.
US Schools are beginning to adapt electric buses thanks to legislation from Democrats!
Help #RegisterDemocrats with @FieldTeam_6!
#Voterizer #Vote https://share.fieldteam6.org/
From 🌻 wild 🌹 flowers 💐 to 🐶🐈🐷 wildlife 🦖🐭🐥, spring & #EarthDay is here!
This is our one and only home. There is no Planet B. We must act, decisively and quickly, to protect and care for #PlanetEarth, so we leave it better than we found it for future generations.
This Earth Day, we're celebrating the 523 NEW CLEAN ENERGY projects funded by the Biden-Harris Administration—creating 271,713 new jobs.
These investments will continue to generate clean energy jobs for generations to come!
#BidensClimateRevolution
Happy #EarthDay! In celebration, let's take a look at the most beautiful natural phenomena in nature🧵👇
Number 6 is my favorite & something I had never known about!
1. Volcanic Lightning
BREAKING: Democratic star Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivers a show-stopping Earth Day speech for President Biden, touting his historic climate change announcement.Share this with EVERY Trump cultist you encounter."Today is a historic day and a landmark…
Earth Day serves as a reminder of the fragility of our planet and the urgent need for environmental stewardship something Republicans know nothing of.
Plastic pollution has long posed a significant threat to our planet’s ecosystems.
There is an estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic entering our oceans annually.
It not only harms marine life but also contaminates water sources.
The production of plastic contributes to greenhouse gas emissions that further exacerbates climate change.
Do your part in making the Earth healthy.
Vote Blue. #DemsUnited #EarthDay2024
On Earth Day, let's celebrate the 523 NEW CLEAN ENERGY projects funded by the Biden-Harris Administration—creating 271,713 new jobs.
These investments will continue to generate clean energy jobs for generations to come!
#Voterizer #BidensClimateRevolution
I will have more details on Biden’s achievements on Global Warming in my Thursday Good News Roundup. Too few voters know about them, so we have to rev up the electric motors on our communication strategy.
This Earth Day, let’s protect the only planet we’ve got by taking action in the fight against climate change.
One way to do that is through @POTUS’s American Climate Corps, which will provide opportunities for thousands of young people to gain skills and find good-paying jobs tackling climate change in their communities.
Happy Earth Day, America!
President Biden will continue to take historic action to tackle the climate crisis, deliver environmental justice, and build a clean energy future.
The Biden Administration has taken more climate action than any other in history.
That's a fact.
Watch and share this epic Earth Day video that walks through #BidensClimateRevolution!
#Voterizer
New study says climate crisis will chop $38 trillion a year off global GDP by 2050
Capitalism—which regularly acts homicidally—is acting truly suicidally.
When I first saw this, I assumed that that amount of damage would occur only if we don’t fix things. No, this is even if we go off fossil fuels entirely before 2050, but don’t get down far enough below Net Zero to where the Earth can start cooling.
Earth Matters
Each Sunday’s Earth Matters requires 25-30 hours a week.
One more thing taking up my time—at the end of this week, my stepdaughter and her fiancée will be married after a harrowing three months of dealing with Libyan and Tunisian security authorities to get her fiancée to the States.
All that is a preface to announcing a three-week hiatus. Earth Matters will return for the rest of the year on May 5.
Congratulate the happy couple for us, MB, and let them know we are doing our best to leave their children a livable world.
BiPM
Today is Earth Day, an event we celebrate every year to remind ourselves that we do not, in fact, have to be the biggest parasites on the third rock from the sun. We choose to be. Unlike the other parasites, we know what we're doing to this planet…and how…and why…and the kinds of things we must do to stop turning it into a ball of uninhabitable human-made garbage.
As an inhabitant of this spectacular planet, I'll continue to try and treat it with the respect it deserves, mostly by following the Four Rs: "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rout the Republicans."
Economics Book: Why We Can't Afford the Rich
How can it be claimed that we can’t afford the rich? Here’s a short answer.
Their wealth is mostly dependent ultimately on the production of goods and services by others and siphoned off through dividends, capital gains, interest and rent, and much of it is hidden in tax havens. They are able to control much of economic life and the media and dominate politics, so their special interests and view of the world come to restrict what democracies can do. Their consumption is excessive and wasteful and diverts resources away from the more needy and deserving. Their carbon footprints are grotesquely inflated and many have an interest in continued fossil fuel production, threatening the planet.
Greenwashing