It’s Earth Day - welcome to WeCoexist.Earth!
22 April marks the 53rd annual Earth Day and the perfect opportunity for the soft launch of WeCoexist.Earth. This site aims to raise awareness about some of the challenges facing our planet, but more importantly to focus on solutions, and the people and companies that are rising to meet those challenges. When you pause for a moment and think about all the wonder that exists in the natural world, preserving those wonders for future generations is surely the duty of us all. Today is the start of a journey that will hopefully educate and inspire, and I hope you will join us.
Now though, a little more about Earth Day. Earth Day is run by the Earth Day Network, whose mission is “to build the world’s largest environmental movement to drive transformative change for people and planet” by diversifying, educating and activating the environmental movement worldwide.
The first Earth Day in 1970 was born out of a growing environmental consciousness, first awoken by Rachel Carson’s bestselling book Silent Spring and then sparked into life by the devastating oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California in 1969. Senator Gaylord Nelson, who had long been concerned about environmental degradation, wanted to combine this growing consciousness with the energy of student anti-Vietnam War protests. He announced a series of college teach-ins and with his co-chair, Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey, recruited activist Denis Hayes to help mobilise the student population. On 22 April 1970 over 20 million Americans from all walks of life participated in that first Earth Day. You can watch some of the original CBS news coverage below.
In a measure of the impact that first Earth Day had, by the end of 1970 the United States Environmental Protection Agency was created and the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act were all passed.
To read about the successes of that first Earth Day is both inspirational and sombre. Inspirational because of the positive changes it led to, but sombre when we reflect that in the more than 50 years since, the momentum generated has perhaps not been kept up and that the vision of the Earth Day Network remains unrealised:
Our world needs transformational change. It’s time for the world to hold sectors accountable for their role in our environmental crisis while also calling for bold, creative, and innovative solutions. This will require action at all levels, from business and investment to city and national government.
That’s where you come in: As an individual, you yield real power and influence as a consumer, a voter, and a member of a community that can unite for change.
Don’t underestimate your power. When your voice and your actions are united with thousands or millions of others around the world, we create a movement that is inclusive, impactful, and impossible to ignore.
Every Earth Day can drive a year of energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to create a new plan of action for our planet..
While the world now faces near constant distraction in the form of wars and economic crises, this vision remains something we not only need to aspire to, but achieve. We all have our part to play and there are actions we can all take.