50th Anniversary of Earth Day in 2020

This day, 22 April 2020, marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The 2020 theme for Earth Day is Climate Action.

Every year on 22 April, since 1970, the Earth Day network engages the global public to take action to protect planet Earth.

In 2020, nations will be expected to increase their national commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Global campaigns this year include EARTHRISE, an inter-generational global movement to mobilize people around the world on 22 April; the Great Global Cleanup, for citizens to pick up rubbish in their neighbourhoods and to consciously reduce waste to improve habitats for wildlife; Earth Challenge 2020, a science initiative to provide people with tools to report of the health and wellbeing of the environment (such as water and air quality); Footprints for the Future, a collaboration of communities and individuals to address environmental issues; and Artists for the Earth to encourage artists to express common humanity through creative expressions.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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