Turning to nature
Environmental groups celebrate 50th Earth Day digitally to show connection to personal health
April 22marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and the environmental awareness celebration went completely digital for the first time in history.
April 22 marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and the environmental awareness celebration went completely digital for the first time in history.
The first Earth Day was held in 1970 and lead to the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts, as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, according to EarthDay. org. Earth Day advocates have made great strides by increasing education on earth-friendly practices in order to benefit the planet. Earth Day is also an opportunity for environmental organizations and educators to teach people that the health of the world is connected to the general health of people.
Sarah Crothers is the education director for the Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area. She often teaches youth about how their personal behaviors has a direct impact on the environment.
“I think we tend to view ourselves as separate from earth or nature because we have built up cities and towns,” she said. “But during this time (of the COVID-19 pandemic), we’re seeing how nature is a place that we can turn to and that it’s a source of our health.”
The current health situation is contributing to a greater appreciation of nature and the outdoors, but it has also created challenges on how groups could celebrate an especially important milestone for Earth Day.
Schuylkill River Greenways is one of several environmental centers part of a regional network called the Alliance for Watershed Education of the Delaware River.
“The Alliance for Watershed Education is a collaborative effort among 23 nature centers and environmental education organizations in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, which are three states that make up the Delaware River Watershed,” said Mica McCullough, communications and events coordinator for the alliance.
The alliance is funded by the William Penn Foundation and was created so nature centers could collaborate on how to bring awareness to the watershed and teach people about the source of their drinking water. Since water is a natural resource of our planet, Earth Day is an important holiday for environmental groups.
“Earth Day is definitely a huge focus and a huge event for nature centers which is why this year is so difficult because no (in-person events) are happening,” McCullough
said.
She said the centers usually have a full schedule of community programming in April because of events like the Opening Day for Trails and Earth Day. She added that it’s also the month when the weather starts to get nicer and people want to spend time outdoors. With stay-at-home guidelines currently in place for the state of Pennsylvania and other neighboring states, environmental organizations had to either cancel in-person events or offer programs virtually.
McCullough said the alliance website has a virtual programming page which lists digital program offerings such as educational videos and virtual meet and greets with animals.
Schuylkill River Greenways is celebrating Earth Day with a variety of individual or digital events including an “earth week challenge.”
“We’re trying to engage people through social media. We’re hosting different challenges with a goal every day to form a new habit in your life, if you’re not already doing it, that’s earth-friendly,” Crothers said.
Some of these habits include eating a meatless meal, using a reusable water bottle and spending time in nature. The organization is also promoting its Operation Pollination program that encourages groups and individuals to make a pledge to actions that will help the pollinator population increase such as growing native plants.
“It’s important to work in some native plants onto your land so pollinator species like birds, bees, bats, moths and butterflies can be better supported by providing them with more habitat,” Crothers said.
She said native plants are low maintenance because they don’t need to be watered and most are perennials which means they grow back every year without having to replant them.
Spending time outdoors is still possible during pandemic
McCollough said regional nature centers are encouraging people to get outside.
“One of the challenges is that the alliance spans three states and each of those states is handling coronavirus differently. In New Jersey, all the state parks are closed … but in Pennsylvania state parks are still open,” she said.
She said Earth Day is an opportunity for people to spend time in nature, even if that means just taking a walk around your neighborhood.
“At least we are able to get outside. We’re able to watch the world go through the changes of spring. This is the perfect time to start watching birds in your backyard,” McCollough said.
She said whether people are getting outdoors in their neighborhood, at a park or on a trail, it’s important they follow social distancing guidelines and other recommended tips such as avoiding frequently touched surfaces.
The Schuylkill River Trail and several other regional trails are still open for public use but some amenities such as bathrooms, water fountains and playgrounds may not be open. Crothers said Schuylkill River Greenways is encouraging people to use trails near their home and at less busy times to avoid crowds. For more information on how to use the Schuylkill River Trail during the pandemic, visit the website SchuylkillRiverTrail.com.
More time at home means more time for selfreflection
McCollough is the chairperson for her town’s green committee in New Jersey. She said since people are spending more time at home and their schedules have freed up, this is an opportunity to examine their everyday actions to see if there are things they can change that will benefit the earth.
“We have been doing a lot of promotion and posts on social media to try to get people to use this time while they are home and really take a look at their habits,” she said.
With fewer people driving or traveling, some areas have seen improvements in air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peter DeCarlo, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, discussed the connection between air quality and social distancing for an article published on the university website.
“Compared to our normal lives, we’ll have lower CO2 emissions while we’re all working from home and basically not driving very often. And that’s good for the short term. But how that translates into future gains is kind of an open question,” DeCarlo stated in the article published online.
DeCarlo also stated that said these short-term actions probably won’t have lasting effects but could be used as an opportunity to see what can be done to “mitigate climate change going forward.”
Crothers said people can make positive behavioral changes that will benefit the Earth even after the end of the stay-at-home orders, such as carpooling when possible, not littering and decreasing the use of single-use plastics.
“If you were to do one thing in your life, other than be a vegan or vegetarian because that has a huge environmental impact, it’s definitely decreasing single-use plastics,” she said.
Crothers said single-use plastics like disposable water bottles and shopping bags are made from nonrenewable resources and don’t biodegrade which leads to more trash in landfills.
“They’re the source of microplastics which pollutes our water,” she said.
Crothers said although people may not directly throw trash in local water sources like the Schuylkill River, all of the trash on the ground ends up in local bodies of water every time it rains.
“This resource that we need to live every day is impacted by our everyday actions,” she said.
Crothers added that actions great for the planet are also actions great for our personal health. She said riding a bicycle has physical and other health benefits to the person on the bicycle, but it’s also helping decrease pollution in the air.
“When you help the earth, you’re helping yourself. When you’re being environmentally friendly, you’re being friendly to your health as well,” Crothers said.
“I think we tend to view ourselves as separate from earth or nature because we have built up cities and towns. But during this time (of the COVID-19 pandemic), we’re seeing how nature is a place that we can turn to and that it’s a source of our health.”