Today marks the 50th annual Earth Day, an internationally recognized celebration devoted to environmental protection and activism. In recent years, Earth Day has featured nature appreciation posts on social media and specially marketed “green” products in grocery stores. But this consumerist celebration is a watered down version of Earth Day’s radical origins. Earth Day, which started in 1970, is truly rooted in activism, protest, and political change.
In the years leading up to 1970, following the publication of Rachel Carson’s heavily influential book “Silent Spring,” the public became aware of the heightening hazards of entirely unchecked pollution from factories and automobiles. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans organized and took to the streets, demanding action. This strike represented not only a coalition of the various environmentally conscious groups that had formed throughout the decade, but also constituted 10% of the American population.
Such a massive showing forced environmental issues to the forefront of American political discourse, and by the end of the year, the United States Environmental Protection Agency—commonly known as the EPA—was established. In the following years, the EPA succeeded in passing the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. These legislative successes have served as backbones to the environmental movement ever since.
Since 1970, Earth Day has allowed activists to mobilize around emerging environmental concerns, including the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle initiative in the 1990s and the push for green energy that began in the 2000s. Despite the commercialization of Earth Day, activists still hope to use Earth Day to create tangible change. This year, environmentally minded activists regard the day with a new sense of urgency, in the wake of studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and others, which show we have less than 12 years to reverse the climate crisis. The Sunrise Movement, an organization comprised of young climate activists across the country, had planned to mobilize a nationwide strike in support of the Green New Deal. Across the country, climate activists were prepared to act on Earth Day. Climate Activists and organizations at the University had similarly high hopes for Earth Day 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced these activists and organizers to shift their plans. Still, they are determined to inspire, educate, organize, and protest despite physical separation.
The Middletown Chapter of the Sunrise Movement, which is grounded at Wesleyan, had high hopes for a massive strike this Earth Day. COVID-19 has certainly rendered a physical strike impossible, but Sunrisers have mobilized for an virtual strike.
“The essence behind the strike of it being a disruption and a sacrifice isn’t there anymore,” Maren Westgard ’22, a co-coordinator of Sunrise Middletown, said. “But the thing that we’re maintaining is that we’re going to use Earth Day as an opportunity to mobilize people who care about having a livable future.”
On behalf of Sunrise, Westgard urges all those worried about our environmental trajectory to participate in this online Earth Week strike taking place on April 24. She promises that the strike, though physically distant, will still offer music, speeches, and chanting. She also urges anyone looking to learn more about the climate crisis to sign up for Sunrise School, a free, week-long, hour-per-day crash course on the climate crisis and the Green New Deal.
Prior to the University transition to remote learning, the Climate Action Group (CAG) had been pushing the administration and board of trustees to accelerate both the divestment from fossil fuels and the transition to carbon neutrality. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 crisis presents another University distraction.
“I’m worried that issues of sustainability will be pushed to the back burner,” CAG leader Irene Westfall ’22 said.
Westfall hopes that a coalition of environmentally minded campus activist groups will band together to do what they can remotely, including phone banking for Green New Deal candidates. On Thursday, April 23, a coalition of groups including CAG, Sunrise, and WesDems are co-hosting an online town hall about climate issues, specifically to engage in a dialogue with Brandon Chaffee, a climate activist who is running for a legislative seat in the Middletown district.
The Climate Action Group is also looking to re-invigorate interest in the FGLI student fund that is currently supporting first-generation low-income students at the University, as the COVID-19 crisis—like climate change—disproportionately affects low-income communities and communities of color.
“The same kind of structural issues that are exacerbated and revealed by climate change are also exacerbated and being revealed by coronavirus,” Westfall said.
Westgard and Westfall both emphasize that Earth Day, despite corporate co-opting, ought to return to its activist roots, starting in 2020. “We’re using the 50th anniversary of Earth Day to bring it back to its roots, which is in protest.”
The University’s Sustainability Office also sports a host of online events on their website. From webinars to the Connecticut Virtual Climate Strike on April 24, the group has a host of events in which people can partake as part of Earth Day. The College of the Environment is also sponsoring a series of events, which can be found on their Facebook page.
Many non-University sponsored events have also transitioned to online to provide Earth Day resources. Middletown March for Science, for instance, has a variety of lectures, symposia, and events, which can be found on their website.
Though Earth Day will look a bit different this year, climate activists march on. Even when it feels like the world is at a bit of a stand-still, climate activists have not lost sight of the big picture.
In the words of Westgard, “The climate crisis stops for no one.”
Nora Markey can be reached at nmarkey@wesleyan.edu.