Is celebrating Earth Day the ultimate Green Wash?

This Friday, April 22, is Earth Day. If you are anything like me, you find it difficult to muster up enthusiasm for events like Earth Day. Do they even make any difference? I’ve always seen event with lots of people as primarily about inspiring the attendees, and I’ve already got plenty of enthusiasm for working on environmental protection. That said, I do have plans for Earth Day. I’ll be working at a table with my local chapter of Wild Ones - a native plant gardening group - to share the gospel about how native plants support local wildlife. But in light of the dire warnings of the recent IPCC report about what we need to do to avoid catastrophic climate change, I’m in a slight state of panic about what I could be doing to help avert global disaster. What possible global impact arises from me and my friends going to a “Green Fest” to give away native seedlings? Quite a lot, I’ve been surprised to conclude.

While it seems largely intractable to untangle the causes of changes to attitudes, behaviors, and policy, some people do credit Earth Days with nudging us towards real climate action. The very first Earth day took place in 1970. It built upon a growing awareness of our impact on the environment. Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, detailing how pesticides could lead to a spring without birdsong, had swept the US like wildfire in the 60s. Towards the end of the decade, in 1968, Apollo astronauts took the iconic photograph of earth rise over the moon which is thought to have altered humanity’s perception of our very nature - instilling a sense of both beauty and fragility. (Here’s a fun video with the astronauts’ voices that recreates that moment) . And then, in a 1969 a fire erupted on the deeply polluted Cuyahoge River shocking many, though not the locals for fires were common on the polluted river.

On the heel of these, and many other environmental events, the first Earth Day saw over 20 million people gather on the streets of the US to try to change human behavior and provoke policy changes to protect the environment. Earth Day events have occurred annually since then and helped pave the way for the swell of environmental laws passed in the 1970s. In the US alone, the 1970s heralded the passing of the Clear Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered species Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Superfund clean up initiative. Did the voice of the many at Earth Day events stimulate the passing of these laws? Perhaps to some degree. Perhaps in the strength of the bills or the level of their subsequent funding? It’s difficult to know.

Over the next 20 years, Earth Day events grew. By 1990, over 141 countries held Earth Day celebrations. The demonstration of interest from the people gave momentum and authority to the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Here, member states got together to discuss issues such as toxic pollution, green energy, public transportation, and water issues. At the summit, The United Nations Climate Change Convention (UNCCC) was drafted and eventually signed by 197 countries. The convention called for continued research, regular meetings, negotiations, and future policy agreements to allow ecosystems to thrive, to protect food production, and to facilitate economic development in a sustainable manner. Five years later, in Kyoto, UNCCC member states committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid dangerous anthropogenic climate change. And in 2015, UNCCC member states agreed, in the Paris Agreement, to endeavor to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (above pre-industrial levels), and preferably to keep warming to 1.5 degrees. It took over 30 years from the first UNCCC meetings to get to the point of agreeing on these targets for at least three reasons. First, climate change has become much more obvious. Second, the science is much more developed and we understand that it we are in a now or never period. And third, public opinion took a while to fully support deep carbon cuts. As painful as the journey was, the Paris Agreement was opened for signatures on April 22nd, 2015, otherwise known as Earth Day. Today, 193 parties have signed the agreement and we are edging closer to realizing its goals.

Could the organizers of the first Earth Day have even dreamt that 193 states would sign a global treaty to limit global warming on an Earth day 45 years later? I doubt it. But the demonstrations, the letter writing, the phone calls, the petition signing, and all the pressure we the people have put on our public officials certainly made it possible for the nations of the world to agree to emission reductions. The symbolism of opening the treaty on Earth Day could be taken as a powerful acknowledgement of the importance of activists’ role in this accomplishment.

Indeed, in the reports coming out of the UNCCC, the so called IPCC reports (Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change), there is increasing recognition of the critical role of citizen and community action in driving climate action. In addition, policy experts and researchers point out that only through a concerted and urgent push, by all interested parties, will we be successful in reducing emissions enough to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Governmental policies and technology fixes can only get us so far. Consumption patterns need to change too. So we the people have two important roles here: we need to urge our governments and industry to meet and expand their current commitments, and we all need to alter our lifestyles. For as exciting as the Paris Agreement is, we remain far from being on target to avoid dangerous climate change.

As I’ve outlined previously, prior to the 2021 UNCCC climate talks in Glasgow, national commitments to reduce emissions put us on target to warm by 2.9 degrees Celsius. This was a vast improvement from the 4 degree trajectory prior to the Paris talks in 2015, but still frighteningly high. A new analysis of commitments made in Glasgow (2021) show that if all pledges are met in full and on time we will likely limit global warming to 1.8-1.9 degrees. That is awesome. This is the first time we’ve been on track (if commitments are met) to keep warming below 2 degrees. And I keep stressing “if the commitments are met” because they have not yet been turned into policies and action plans. What’s more, we all know that it would be far better for EVERYONE if we keep warming to 1.5 degrees. Beside the increasing risk of global warming feedbacks and extreme weather events above 1.5 degrees, climate migration is a time bomb. If you think the immigrant crisis from the Ukraine is bad (and of course it is just horrifying), just consider 2 degrees of warming. According to an article in Pro Publica, for every degree of warming above temperatures today (we’ve now warmed the planet by about 1.2 degrees), one billion people will be displaced by climate change. As might be guessed, many analyses show that the cost of not keeping warming below 1.5 degrees vastly exceeds the cost of reducing emissions.

Not to be overly dismayed, there’s lots of good news in the latest IPCC report, too. At least 18 countries, including two with economies in transition, have had reductions in CO2 emissions for more than 10 years, while sustaining production and consumption. The rate of these reductions, about 4% per year, are in line with 2 degree scenarios. Also encouraging is that in the last decade, the cost of solar power has come down by 85% and installations have grown by a factor of 10. This pales in comparison to the growth of electric vehicles which have multiplied by a factor of 100 in the last 10 years. And studies estimate we can reduce emissions by 40-70% by 2050 through consumer demands alone. Our collective individual actions are of paramount importance. The goal of 1.5 degrees is well within our reach.

In summary - we’ve made good progress thus far, but this is no time to take our foot off the pedal - so to speak. Of course we need to take all our feet off the gas powered pedals of our cars, and more. I suggest that this Earth Day is a good time to do some of those eco-chores you’ve been putting off. Book an appointment to get an estimate for solar panels or geothermal heating and cooling. Order that electric car or bike. Sign up for green energy. Eat more vegan meals. Implement a plan to reduce your food waste. Convert your lawn into a native wilderness and carbon sink. Urge your representatives to support climate policies. Volunteer. Help educate others. Talk about the issues. Share this newsletter with a couple friends, cheeky self-promotion but also a good thing to do. Pick one, or more. And try to do them this Earth Day.

The vibration of our actions resonate with the collective and are amplified. As pointed out by author, Zeynep Tufekci, as she explored the impacts of Black Lives Matters protests, protestors’ voices convince “ … people of the righteousness of their cause. In the long run, that’s of profound importance”.

Happy changing the world, one seedling at a time.