Earth Day: Invest in Our Planet
Day 5 of our Earth Week theme. Highlighting great work and organizations to support.
Happy Earth Day!
So to celebrate today, I wanted to share a couple of highlights of progress we’ve made since the first Earth Day in 1970. And to share organizations that are working hard today, to create a better next chapter for all of us. With the official Earth Day theme of ‘Invest in Our Planet’, I hope you might consider a small donation to any of these organizations or a local one that you know about. Every dollar does make a difference.
So, we have a tendency to look at the state of our planet today and think about all that is wrong with it, and there’s plenty to pick and choose from on that score!
For example: climate change is much more dire than it might have been had it been tackled earlier. Biodiversity and habitat loss continues apace, and many species have not and will not survive our continuing human advance. Plastics (and micro plastics, and nano plastics) will be a problem for many hundreds of years, or longer, even if we cease their widespread use today. And our production of food isn’t keeping pace with where and how people need it, and it often depletes the land rather than being regenerative.
We have MUCH to do.
BUT…..let’s look at where we were in 1970 (the first Earth Day) and what has happened since then that’s positive. Because there is a lot, and ALL progress builds on progress before it. When you are half way up a hill, you can just look up at all the work you still have to do, or you can celebrate that you’re half way there and that the hard work already done leaves you in a better place to make the rest of the journey.
In 1969, the year before the first Earth Day, the the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire it was so polluted. So, consider that before I list just a few of the highlights!
In 1970, in the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created, under President Nixon. This was the first time we gave responsibility and a budget to an office whose role was explicitly to protect and improve our environment. Lots of progress was made as a result of this in the 1970s alone!
The 1970s saw the creation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Air Act. DDT was banned. The Clean Water Act was created and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement with Canada was signed.
In the 1980s we discovered the hole in the ozone layer and within just TWO years, we had the Montreal Protocol - a landmark international agreement to phase out CFCs that were causing the hole. This shows how quickly progress can be made when all parties are honest brokers and committed to an urgent task.
In the 1990s, we had the first international climate report, the Rio Summit (which created the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and brought the idea of sustainable development into the mainstream), and the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997.
In the 2000s, the bald eagle was delisted as an endangered species in the US - a direct result of the DDT ban in the 1970s among other targeted conservation efforts. We also enacted much stronger pollution standards, vehicle emissions standards, and greenhouse gas reduction initiatives started to get serious in many places. The C40 initiative was formed - a group of mayors across the globe committed to tackling climate change. There are now well over 90 mayors participating in that network and they have agreed to more and more aggressive action over time.
Since 2010, we have seen hard-fought international cooperation come to fruition in the Paris Agreement. There is still much to improve upon, but we finally have a meaningful agreement there to improve! The world generated 10% of its electricity from renewable sources in 2021, and while greenhouse gas emissions are still rising, the curve is flattening out, and 18 countries have seen a real decrease in emissions lasting at least a decade, including the United States.
So, progress is being made. Some of those accomplishments are quite amazing.
Is it enough? No. We still need so much more attention on biodiversity, food production, alternative energy and materials, and lots more. But, we ARE improving slowly. We ARE seeing positive change. All hope is not lost.
So, in that spirit, here are some organizations I am personally aware of that are doing amazing work and creating more of the progress we need to write a healthy, equitable, clean, and beautiful next chapter. Please help me in supporting them where you can, so the accomplishments list we make in the next 50 years is even more impressive.
The Audubon Society. I’ve been a member for many years and while they are focused on the habitat and health of birds, their work plays so many positive roles for all sorts of people (including supporting equity issues for women and minorities) and natural environments.
Roots and Shoots. The global organization created by Dr. Jane Goodall is focused on supporting young people as they create their own projects and take action. I love the message of inspiration, support, and action of this organization.
Together Rising. This organization helps all sorts of individuals and families who are struggling. And above all else, they help people ‘belong’. So, in many circumstances, they also help build community. Right now, they’re helping a lot of Ukrainian refugees.
Groundswell International. This organization works across the world, primarily in South America and Africa, to support family farms, women farmers, and regenerative processes. They do the important and hard work of blending farming and food security with community and equity.
Fauna and Flora International is apparently the oldest conservation organization in the world and because it’s based in the UK, tends to get less attention for American audiences, so I wanted to highlight its work. It is currently supporting 150 projects across the world. FFI supports cultural and economic health for communities, (and business), while helping them preserve species and habitats, and invest in conservation efforts.
And here are a couple of organizations closer to home in the US and then locally for southern Appalachia (my area of the world!)
Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming. This group is based in the Hudson Valley and is really forging ahead with trying to develop and enhance a resilient and regenerative regional food system that supports just and equitable food production.
Greenworks Asheville. I lived in Asheville for 20 years and this group provides such practical and easy ways to engage locally. They provide education and environmental cleanup, conservation projects and recycling - all helping people love and take care of the place they live.
Tremont Institute at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And now that I’m on the other side of the Smokies, this is a local organization to me. They are all about experiential (and residential) education in the most biodiverse park in the United States. There are programs for adults and kids and it covers science, naturalist certification, teacher weekends, and all kinds of excursions. I love how people get to really dive in and get to know the extraordinary mountains in our back yard.
There are SO many great organizations doing work that really matters. As we go through the next year of this newsletter, I hope to highlight many, many more. Please send me ideas as well so we can profile the ‘authors’ of a next chapter that we want to live in.
I hope you have a great Earth Day and get to enjoy your own little patch of the planet this week.
“One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.”
—Leo Tolstoy