Ea
[party horns blare]
So what's the big deal?
Do we, like, know what day the Earth came into existence
and kind of celebrate its birthday?
Nope.
The celebration is only around 50 years old.
Has a lot to do with the environment,
and some say it might be due for an overhaul.
So let's get into it.
This is
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Get this. Scientists estimate that the world
is 4.5 billion years old.
They found a super old Gem in Australia,
the oldest ever found and used it to estimate
the age of the planet.
Now, compare that with the 50-ish years that humans
have been celebrating Earth Day,
and it's a pretty new celebration.
Earth Day started in 1970 in the United States.
a senator named Gaylord Nelson was growing concerned
about the deteriorating environment.
Books like Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring",
which talked about the impact of pesticides
and a massive oil spill in California in 1969
had an impact on Senator Nelson.
So he organized a teach-in on college campuses
for the national media, hoping to raise awareness
and educate people about the environment.
Organizers chose April 22nd for the event because it fell
between spring break and final exams for college students
and they wanted to maximize participation.
After that teach-in, they decided to make the event
an annual one.
They changed the name to Earth Day and created
a national staff to promote it across America.
Canada didn't have an official Earth Day organization
until 1990, when the celebration began to go global.
So, awesome, right?
The day fixed all our environmental problems
and set us on the path forward to a green harmonious future.
Right?
Well, not exactly.
So what has it accomplished and can it do more?
Most experts agree that Earth Day has led to some
improvements in the environment and overall awareness.
The first Earth Day led to the creation
of the
which led to the passage of the
and Endangered Species Acts.
As a result, oil spills have become less common,
the air is cleaner,
the hole in the ozone layer is healing, and recycling
and composting have vastly increased.
According to the
more than 1 billion people are involved in Earth Day
activities every year.
And in general, Earth Day is seen as a major force
in shifting attention towards the health of the planet,
but we're still dealing with some huge environmental
problems, and lots of things have actually gotten worse
since the first Earth Day,
like climate change, for example
the use of fossil fuels is on the rise
and the planet is heating up. Forests are being cut,
animals are going extinct,
and plastic pollution is everywhere.
Those things aren't Earth Day's fault, of course,
but some say the one day event gives people and corporations
a convenient excuse to not make real changes
every other day of the year.
I see dozens of people in my life
posting on
about how much they love the Earth and what they do
to create change...
..on this day, and then I don't see them
post anything again until the next Earth Day.
That's Katia Bannister.
She's a climate activist and student
at the
She thinks the downside of a single day like this
is that it's...
Really performative and really problematic,
especially when companies are hopping on that
bandwagon and starting pushing these greenwashing campaigns.
And so I have to ask myself,
why can we only consider environmental issues
for one day a year?
Isabel:
That's when a company pretends to be environmentally friendly
in order to sell more stuff when they really aren't.
So yeah, it's possible that some people use Earth Day
as a way to make themselves look good instead
of making real changes,
but Kristin Mullin with Earth Day Canada says
her organization seeks to help people.
Understand what things they can do in their everyday lives
that will make the greatest impact,
and just have the knowledge behind that and the desire
to help the environment.
She says Earth Day is a good motivator
to keep at it.
And nobody's perfect, so it's always good
to have those reminders and recommit to the environment.
And despite her reservations,
even Katia says she sees some value in that.
Yes, I do celebrate Earth Day.
I do care about Earth Day.
For me, it is a, it is a day of reflection
and a day of vision.
How do I live my life in support of a healthier planet
and planetary systems this year?
Still, Kristen and Katia agree that environmental action
needs to happen more than one day a year.
Earth Day. Yes, it's a day,
and it's a day we celebrate once a year,
but we really think that there is work to be done
365 days a year.
Katia thinks that we need a new generation
to engage with Earth Day and inject some of the grassroots,
revolutionary mentality that was there when it all began.
I think, like, 50 years is a long time ago,
and so a lot of the original grassroots organizers
and activists that had a connection to Earth Day
are not here anymore.
I think there's kind of this, this generational gap in there
where an understanding of why Earth Day was created
and why we celebrate it is not being passed down
to younger generations of people.
Isabel:
it was after 150 years of industrialization,
when the growth of factories and cities and cars started
to have a massive impact on our planet.
At that time, some people saw it as revolutionary
to push back against that industrialization and shift
focus to the environment.
Madhur Anand, a Professor of Ecology
at the
thinks we could use a little more of that
revolutionary mentality today.
Yeah, we definitely need a revolution.
What does Madhur mean by revolution?
Well, remember that book we mentioned earlier,
"Silent Spring" from the 1960s?
That one book basically forced DDT, an environmentally
damaging chemical, to be banned in the US.
Madhur says it was a really big deal at the time
and really empowering for activists.
There was an example where you had a really radical,
massive change and we've had a few points
like that in our history, but we need another one now.
Madhur says Earth Day could play a part in sparking
the next environmental revolution
because the first step is to get people talking.
It's a good chance for us to, like,
have the conversation at a global level
and I think that conversation part is really important
and maybe Earth Day is a way for this, the way we even
talk to one another to really finally address some of these,
these really challenging problems.
What are you planning to do this Earth Day?
Start a conversation or something more?
Maybe you have plans to tackle climate change
the other 364 days of the year.
Write to us at cbckidsnews@cbc.ca
to tell us about your environment goals.
That's it for
Reporting from Earth and for
I'm Isabel Deroy-Olson
-[speaks alternate language] -Bye!
We spoke with some really smart people
to help me with this video.
Madhur Anand is a Professor of Ecology
at the
Katia Bannister is a climate activist and student
at the
and Kristin Mullin is the director of development
at Earth Day, Canada.
I also referenced information from...
..and
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