Days of commemoration usually mark important historical dates for events in religion, tradition or even politics, but it is quite rare to recognize a day of the year dedicated to the future of an international issue. Most of our most celebrated holidays have been subjected to complete commercialization with accompanying levels of excitement. Traditionally there has been little fervor in celebrating perhaps one of the most important days of the year—April 22nd otherwise known as Earth Day. This is a day in which we can all respect the Earth by contemplating our goals as a common planet in charting a sustainable path to modernization with the environment being central to this consideration. Earth Day has received more fanfare in recent years and hopefully this trend will continue.
Earth Day as we know it began as an anniversary date for what was believed to be the genesis of the in 1970.1 The United States National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) passed in 1970 following the disastrous effects of the Cuyahoga River oil spill 2 and increased environmental advocacy. The creation of Earth Day can be credited to Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson,3 who along with other leaders directed the energetic zeal of anti-war protesters towards the travesties of environmental ignorance. These efforts culminated in the first ever Earth Day on April 22, 1970 which brought together 20 million participants from across the nation. Two decades later, Earth Day would become an international phenomenon with 200 million participants from 141 countries joining together in April 1990 to promote environmental awareness. Now let’s take a look at this upcoming Earth Day 2014.
Theme of 2014: Green Cities
Every year Earth Day is celebrated with a common theme that serves as a focal point for environmental discussion, and this year the theme has been aptly decided as—Green Cities.4 It is estimated that 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by the year 2050,5 therefore the modern city represents an important target for environmental change. Technological advances have improved agricultural efficiency to an unprecedented degree, and the recent trend of urbanization follows from the introduction of mass, technologically driven industry that continues to shift economies to the service sector.6 Fortunately, city living can be much more environmentally friendly than suburban living, resulting in much more efficient use of fuel and electricity per capita.7 While this efficiency may be generally true, patterns of efficiency are unfortunately asymmetric around the globe as a result of a somewhat chaotic pattern of urbanization in the developing world.
If one is to consider the city as a unit of organization, the concept of through better land allocation strategies of living space.10 If one is to imagine the future city designed with smart growth in mind, one can imagine a city with more compact building design, various transportation choices, a variety of open spaces, and neighborhoods in which urban resources can be accessed within walking distance.11 While smart growth does address the aspect of urban design that seeks to maximize efficiency, Earth Day is also expected to bring together many minds in discussing the technological innovations that enable greener cities.
Making city living greener is indeed noteworthy considering the current trends of urbanization, and the goal calls for both a macroscopic and microscopic perspective towards improving urban conditions as well as the overall environment. Earth Day is specifically looking at the greening of cities through the lenses of , more efficient public transportation as well as intelligent buildings that use cleaner materials and avoid squandering energy?
- Energy
All of the major cities in the United States are powered by an electric grid that tends to produce energy from not only recruits corporate partnership in data management,14 such as Cisco and Google, but also participation from Siemens and Emerson in the manufacturing of the infrastructure itself. A notable example of a corporate entity specializing in smart grid innovation would be Silver Springs Networks,15 based locally in Redwood City, California. Even more radical in green city innovation is the concept of a super grid, that aims to deliver renewable energies through superconducting transmission lines that prevent energy loss over long distances.16 As a result, it might soon be possible to transmit energy from the Hoover Dam to San Francisco, California with the super grid online.
- Green Buildings
Is it possible to create buildings that not only house thousands of people in an efficient living space, but minimize waste in water and energy usage? This is precisely what the green building industry 17 hopes to resolve, and the concept extends to several aspects of design and construction. Through industrial recycling programs, it is possible to use recycled materials for construction to minimize energy usage associated with manufacturing itself. The architecture of the building can also play a role in greater heat saving exposures during the day, coupled with a strategy of using within cities, intelligent roof design with garden space and new age materials are being researched to better dissipate excess heat in an urban environment. Furthermore, water monitoring can be greatly improved within a building space and the consolidation of living spaces within a building could potentially allow for more efficient water distribution. There are numerous potential avenues for furthering green building design and its accessibility as an issue to the public is sure to make it a hot topic of discussion this year.
- Transportation
Public transportation is usually automatically equated with energy and emissions savings. However, the success of public transportation depends on sustainable design and implementation. Greater monitoring and management may play a significant role in maintaining an efficient number of transport vehicles in circulation. The bus is a common vehicle in most cities, and thanks to the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) powered buses, their emissions signature is far less than traditional diesel buses. with regenerative braking also represents a unique innovation in public transport, especially since stop and go driving in cities represents a significant waste in fuel.
For longer distance travel, railways have become a focal point for transportation improvements. While many rail technologies such as magnetic levitation have been around for quite a while, their implementation has been rather limited. There a push to introduce high speed railway networks in the United States for fuel and emission reduction goals, but also to further some interesting technological concepts, such as a mechanism to transfer train braking energy to the electric grid.18 There has also been a growing movement in favor of improving bicycle access through as urban transport, and there are several American cities also following suite. Urban transportation is long overdue as a topic of consideration given its great potential in curbing emissions and improving living standards, and therefore this year’s Earth Day should bring forth some interesting discussions regarding this topic.
Earth Day has truly been revolutionary in the way that it brings together like minds from across the globe in considering the environmental challenges of the future. Unlike an annual holiday that celebrates the past, Earth Day seeks to celebrate the future towards endeavors that touch the lives of billions. Earth Day is not only a model of environmental cooperation, but a model of global cooperation to solve some of the most difficult issues that we face today as a society.
