22/04/2020
Happy 50th birthday Earth Day!🌍🌏🌎
The last fifty years have seen success and setbacks for the state of our world. Today’s world has around twice as many people than it did back in 1970 and our impact on the world is greater than ever. But we know much more about how to produce energy sustainably, how to treat water and clean the air, and how to protect habitats and human health. Instead, the challenge facing us is the less the know-how (at least in terms of technology) and more the will to change. Recent weeks have shown us the hard way that we are capable of change. In some areas, that change has led to rapid improvements in environmental quality. All around the globe, regions are reporting some of the best air quality in decades; similar improvements have been seen in water quality and wildlife populations. And less visibly, greenhouse gas emissions are down, not enough to make a huge dent in climate change, but a start nonetheless.
Normally, different towns, cities, and universities, including Franklin, would be celebrating this important day with teach-ins, festivals, lectures, etc. Instead, many of us sit at home, working, learning, procrastinating, and sometimes struggling. We encourage you to take a few minutes today and think about the world after the pandemic. We all want to go back to seeing friends and family in person, we want to move beyond our neighborhood and venture out to more than a grocery store, many also want to go back to work or school, and we will. But, can we change how we do these things, can we do them in a better way with a smaller impact on the planet and on others? Again, we do not lack to knowledge of how to do this, but perhaps now we can find the will. If we cannot, we doom many thousands of people to die behind the scenes from air pollution each year, species to go extinct, and the planet to become a hotter, more difficult place to live.
One place to start to find new ideas as well as old ones is here: https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2020/
Happy Earth Day!
The enormous challenges of acting on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary.
