Citizens of the Earth
Citizens of the Earth
For over 50 years, Earth Day has been a landmark to celebrate our miraculous environment rich in sustaining diverse ecosystems, empowering community stewardship, and highlighting environmental issues with nature-based and scientific solutions to the challenges we face on this shimmering planet.
From local to world wide, millions are gathering to safeguard our communities, food sources, forests, freshwater systems, and marine life as if our lives depended on it – because they do.
While this is the most vulnerable our planet has been in 2 million years, we have a global responsibility to protect the changing landscapes of our survival as interdependence sways in the balance.
Earth is more than just a mere speck within the stargrid of a vast universe; it is our home, our wellbeing, our sustenance, our medicine, our delight, and our inspiration.
Any inaction becomes a wasteland. The time to invest in our planet has always been now.
History of Earth Day
In 1970, the first Earth Day hit the scene founded by former senator of Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson. It remains the largest single-day protest in human history with over 20 million Americans coming together for environmental protection.
What followed from this monumental gathering was the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency. By 1990, Earth Day had become a global campaign for the planet with 140 nations contributing to the cause.
The sentiments are as strong now as they were then. As time has evolved, the movement has grown to the status of the Paris Agreement first signed in 2016 that onboards the Climate Protection Treaty between 195 nations.
Our leading threat to the environment today is climate change, and it is imperative that our governments take action beyond awareness to instill policies, partnerships, and agreements on a global level.
Climate Risk and Climate Action
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported we are projected to reach global surface temperatures of 1.5 celsius (2.7 fahrenheit) within a decade. These alarming facts have and will be irrevocable to people, ecosystems, and the planet if greenhouse gas emissions continue to stifle our atmosphere at this rate.
The human interference and impact on biodiversity is an immediate result from fossil fuels and animal agriculture being leading contributors to climate change. We must look at this challenge from a natural, ecological, social, economic, and political viewpoint.
With the planet becoming recognizably hotter; forest fires, flooding, droughts, storms, and heat waves will continue to cripple communities, both in urban, rural, and poverty stricken landscapes. What we do today determines tomorrow, and the next 100 years.
Hoesung Lee of the IPCC states “it emphasizes the urgency of immediate and more ambitious action to address risks. Half measures are no longer an option.
From Local to Global
While climate change is a grave issue, climate action is our solution to bridging our world to be more sustainable, efficient, and equitable. We are not powerless in the fight to invest in our planet.
Through education and climate literacy we can empower the youth, and all, on sustainable developments for our pending future.
With nature restoration and conservation, we can rehabilitate our communities, cities, environments, and ecosystems to draw down carbon and reduce toxic emissions.
Within our food systems, we can honor a regenerative model that gives voice to both indigenous and local knowledge while eradicating the harmful effects of monoculture and loss of viable soils.
As consumers our input within a global economy drives the direction of goods and services in which we can challenge businesses to comply with policies that are sustainable and work to protect species and the environment.
Most importantly, demanding government and corporate investments towards sustainable technologies and sciences that power green energy for our local communities to thrive and be cohesive within our natural world.
There is no separation between people, land, ocean, atmosphere, and sea. We are all accountable for the health, longevity, and livelihood of our planet.
This fight for environmental protection is the greatest global collaboration we can embark on. We have the physical science, know the impacts and vulnerabilities, and can access the tools to mitigate any further loss of life, land, and species.
Humans have walked the earth for 7 million years, so when will we leave it better than how we found it?
We challenge you to not only participate in Earth Day, but cultivate an Earth Life.
Give thanks to this viable planet, and let's invest in being the collective caretakers.
About the Author: Rosie Llewellyn is a Haitian - American artist, author, yoga teacher, and sustainability leader inspired by the beauty + abundance of our natural world. Often immersed in the mountains, chasing sunlight, and calling it poetry, Rosie aims to bridge the elements of creativity, movement, and earth wisdom to advocate for a sustainable way of life in balance with our planet.