This year’s Earth Day theme, “Mobilize The Earth,” superbly captures one of the emerging trends of the environmental movement.1 For the first Earth Day in 1970, Founder Senator Nelson chose the date April 22 because it would not interfere with college students’ academic, social or religious obligations (for a full history of Earth Day, see last year’s Greeniacs article ). This was important because students were the main targets of Senator Nelson’s “teach-in” campaign.2 Today, this “teach-in” mission has been expanded. Earth Day is no longer just about teaching others about the importance of protecting the Earth’s resources, it’s about doing something! Earth Day has accomplished Senator Nelson’s original mission—the environment is now near the top of the global agenda. The time for mere awareness is over, and the time for real transformation has arrived.
This Year’s Theme A Response to Recent Earth Day Criticism?
The “Mobilize the Earth” theme seems an adequate response to many of the recent criticisms that Earth Day has become “obsolete,” or is not enough to foster a “comprehensive sustainability” that goes beyond one day a year.3 Environmentalists, while happy to celebrate the planet and teach others, have written scores of editorials over the last several years complaining that Earth Day protests, concerts, neighborhood cleanups, and tree-plantings are not enough. As the journalists at one popular environmental weblog put it:
The biggest problem with Earth Day is that it has become a ritual of sympathy for the idea of environmental sanity. Small steps, we’re told, ignoring the fact that most of the steps most frequently promoted (returning your bottles, bringing your own bag, turning off the water while you brush your teeth) are of such minor impact (compared to our ecological footprints) that they are essentially meaningless without larger, systemic action as well. The strategy of recycling as a gateway drug — get them hooked on it and we can move them on to harder stuff — has failed miserably. It is, essentially, the politics of gesture, little different than wearing a rubber wristband or a pink ribbon. We can do better.4
This year is focused on organizing ongoing service events, planting school gardens that will be used year-round,5 pledging acts of green,6 and rallying to promote investment in energy efficiency7 . Thus it appears that Earth Day organizers are truly trying to transition from celebrating the Earth once a year to recognizing (and respecting) our relationship to it year round. This new focus seems to be piggybacking on the larger trend in the environmental movement to take action. Organizations like http://www.350.org/ led the way this past year in coordinating massive protests worldwide.
Contextualizing Earth Day 2012
This Earth Day, let’s step it up. Not only does this next week mark the 42nd annual Earth Day, it is also the second year since the nation’s biggest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico8 . At the height of that spill, the Obama administration gave every indication that heavy-risk oil ocean drilling would not be tolerated. But in this election year, gas prices are up and Shell Oil ships are underway to drill the first wells in Arctic waters.9 The Chukchi Sea is home to iconic Arctic species like the bowhead whale, walrus, polar bear, and beluga whale. And the drilling will begin without adequate studies on how those operations could impact the Arctic Ocean and the life it supports. This year, one way to really make an impact for the Earth, is to spend your Earth Day protesting the drilling decision, and spend the rest of this year advocating energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Of course, Earth Day will always remain a day for us to celebrate and enjoy the Earth’s splendors. But let’s keep our eyes on the bigger picture this year. Make an environmental resolution on the 22nd and see if you can continue to help the planet for the other 364 days of the next year.
For full coverage of Earth Day events, see the Earth Day official websites at www.earthday.org and http://www.epa.gov/earthday/.
