Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 each year around the world. Women, men, and youth all participate by recycling, picking up litter, and signing petitions. This year’s theme will be called “Restore our Earth.”
Earth Day was started by Gaylord Nelson, former senator of Wisconsin, who proposed and started the first nationwide environmental protest in the 1970s.
Nigel Hancock, a geography and environmental science professor at LBCC said, “Global warming and climate change are major issues we are facing today. The cause of climate change is the process of burning any type of fossil fuels like natural gas, petroleum (oils) and coal. When fossil fuels are burned Greenhouse gasses are released and carbon dioxide goes into the air which then causes Earth’s global temperatures to rise.”
The focus of Earth Day is to recycle more and promote cleaner and healthier living, This day aims to raise awareness for issues like climate change, global warming, water, soil and air pollution which are all causing harm to our planet.
The website earthday.org states that the first Earth Day in 1970 mobilized millions of Americans for the protection of the planet. On April 22nd, 1970.20 million Americans and 10% of the U.S. population at the time took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new forward for our planet.
According to EAT, a non-profit organization, changing our eating habits and eating more organic products can keep us healthy and can help avoid the further development of global warming because research shows diet can affect the environment.
Change can be made by simply eating healthier alternatives like vegetarian foods and reducing any meat intake.
According to the Los Angeles Region Report of California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, which depends on a scheme characterized by increasing greenhouse gas emissions over time, projects one to two feet of sea level rise by 2050, and more extreme projections lead to eight to ten feet of sea level rise by the end of the century.
Hancock said, “What we are learning is if we want the climate of the world to go in a direction of something we recognize we have to get rid of all fossil fuel gasses by 2050 and we have to have half of this done nine years from now.”
The more carbon is burned will further contribute to the rise of global warming. It is not healthy to continue in the same direction.
West Long Beach faces difficulty when it comes to air pollution because of the many cranes and the Port of Long Beach being near. However, the Adaptation Plan and Climate Action had been confirmed on January 5 by the Long Beach council. The Climate Action Adaptation plan is anticipated to be adopted by the Fall of 2021.
Physical science instructor at LBCC Faraz Shahbazian shared some ways that we can celebrate Earth Day.
Shahbazian said, “The ways we can celebrate Earth Day this year; plant a garden in your backyard or start a plant collection, take a walk, educate yourself, donate, post on social media outlets, start a compost, make your voice be heard, take a virtual adventure, and join any Earth Day’s 24 Hours of Action amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and recycle.”
Recycling is a good way to help the earth becasue it reprocesses used materials. Not only does it do good for our earth but it is a plus for earning money.
A way you can celebrate Earth Day besides advocating online, cleaning up local areas or recycling is by joining The Aquarium of the Pacific with a virtual celebration by visiting this link on Saturday, April 24.
As students and millennials, we are the future of the world. We can volunteer and participate in various different ways to celebrate Earth Day that will help bring positive changes to our ecosystem and environment.