50 years of Earth Day

Wednesday, April 22 was observed across the globe as Earth Day. While the coronavirus spreading around the world and dominating news headlines, thoughts and attention, the importance of observing Earth Day only increased manifold. Observance of Earth Day was first proposed by US-based peace activist John McConnell at a Unesco conference in San Franciso in 1969. His idea was to honour the Earth and the concept of peace, and raise awareness and public opinion against environmental pollution. He had originally suggested March 21, 1970, the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. About a month later Gaylord Nelson, a US proposed the idea to hold a nationwide environmental teach-in programme on April 22, 1970. Nelson hired a young activist called Denis Hayes as its National Coordinator, and renamed the event “Earth Day.” Nelson was later honoured with the US Presidential Medal of Freedom award in recognition of his work. While the first Earth Day focused on the United States, in 1990, Denis Hayes took it international and organized events in as many as 141 nations. When the first Earth Day took place in 1970, over 20 million people took part, mostly in the US. Over the years it has emerged as one of the largest civic events of our planet, one which has compelled governments all over to take concrete actions, including passing environmental laws and establishing environmental agencies. In addition to these practical outcomes, the event demonstrated just how much can be achieved when people come together and demand action. According to the UN Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report of 2019, by the end of 2020, global CO2 emissions need to be dropped by 7.6% and continue to fall by 7.6% each year so as to keep global heating under 1.5oC. But this reduction cannot be achieved by UN alone. While every individual has to be a stakeholder, the lead has to be taken in a country like India by elected representatives like MPs, MLAs and Panchayat members, academicians, political parties, students, and above all those who run various kinds of factories. As the UN has said, April 22 is a timely reminder to embrace opportunities of the natural world for green jobs, sustainable economic stimulus, for taking urgent action to protect ourselves against increasingly unsurvivable global warming, and for securing healthy and dignified futures for our children.