We all have role to play on Earth Day

It’s Earth Day once again, and for a second consecutive year the annual celebration of environmental protection will have a different feel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s official international Earth Day observance features three days of online events.

The situation offers some significant benefits amid the obvious drawbacks of not being able to hold the kind of big public events so many of us have come to cherish each Earth Day.

This year people have the opportunity to take advantage of a variety of educational opportunities without having to leave home. The very reduction in the need to travel is in keeping with the spirit of the occasion.

This year’s official international Earth Day observance features three days of online events. It began Tuesday with a global youth climate summit featuring hundreds of young activists. Wednesday’s highlight was a virtual summit focused on the role educators play in combating climate change.

And today at noon EarthDay.org is holding its Earth Day Live digital event, featuring workshops, panel discussions, and special performances focused on the theme of restoring our Earth. Topics include natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.

Among the other topics are climate and environmental literacy; climate restoration technologies; reforestation; regenerative agriculture and cleanups.

Something similar is happening on the local level. In Berks County, a series of educational events will be taking place online starting today and continuing through the weekend. The full schedule is at sites.google.com/view/earthdayberks/home.

Topics range from bird identification to recycling to gardening, and much more, all with a local focus. There’s entertainment as well.

For those who prefer an inperson Earth Day experience, all is not lost. There are organized cleanups taking place this weekend and beyond. And Berks County’s Earth Day organizers are planning to have a more traditional celebration June 13 in City Park. Hopefully by then our region, state and nation will be much closer to the end of the pandemic as more and more people get vaccinated.

As always, the most important thing to remember is that Earth Day must be treated as something more than just a once-a-year occasion. It’s a reminder to recommit ourselves to taking steps to help the environment every day of the year.

COVID-19 has driven home the message that what each of us does can have an impact on others in our own communities and around the globe. We are interconnected. When things go wrong, that can lead to tragedy. When we do things right, it can strengthen us all.

National Geographic Young Explorer Ghaamid Abdulbasat of Tanzania wrote powerfully about the global impact of individual action in a blog post published on the Earth Day website.

“Every single person has a role to play in protecting the environment, regardless of their profession,” he wrote. “Becoming environmentally conscious means changing our daily behaviors at every level – individual, family, community, and decision-making. … Each person has an opportunity to become more aware and responsible for our behaviors and habits.”

“Our individual behaviors impact the earth, the ocean, and every person who lives on this planet,” he wrote. “We all have a responsibility to change our behaviors and we all can.

That means disposing of waste properly, engaging in proper recycling practices, working to reduce the amount of trash we produce and cutting our energy and water usage, It also means setting a good example and encouraging others to do the same.

Make today the first day of a new routine aimed at greater consciousness of environmental action. Be sure to take time to enjoy these spring days and the beauty that goes with them. And remember that keeping a commitment to ensuring the health of our planet will allow people to continue enjoying it for many generations to come.