Earth Day Network Blog Updates

Earth Day is tomorrow, and Earth Day Network has been mobilizing local officials worldwide for weeks to discuss challenges and opportunities in sustainability with their communities through Global Day of Conversation.  The Kurdish region in Iraq has joined in this international endeavor to promote understanding and commitments at the community-level.

Scientists estimate that 6.4 million tons of garbage are dumped into the ocean every year. The massive amount of garbage that litters our oceans is one of the main reasons why nearly half of the world’s species of sea turtles currently face extinction.  This issue is particularly serious in the South China Sea, a major lane of migration for many species of sea turtles.  Luckily, at least one organization is dedicated to protecting these cute critters.

Earth Day is celebrated in over 190 countries around the world.  Though groups and individuals may celebrate it in different ways, the message is clear: people everywhere are concerned and passionate about saving our planet’s limited resources. One group in Panama is getting their point across by ... getting their hands dirty.

The famed Serengeti National Park in Tanzania is home to the world’s single largest wildlife migration.  Over two million species of animals, including half a million wildebeest and some 250,000 zebras, travel these lands each year in search of greener pastures.  This Great Migration is among the most amazing assemblies of wildlife on the planet. 

Have you ever heard the Chinese proverb, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is right now”?

In 2011, Earth Day will be used as a platform to educate the world about the important environmental issues facing our planet.  From global climate change to deforestation, environmental awareness is the central focus on April 22 in over 125 countries.

It is not the leaders of today who will most feel the effects of environmental degradation and unsustainable energy and resource consumption.  It is the world’s youth and children.  As the United Nations notes, at 20% of the world population, youth and children are key to creating a sustainable future.  Earth Day, which is celebrated by over 1 billion people in 190 countries, was started by youth. The first Earth Day in 1970 saw 20 million secondary school and university students stage grassroots teach-ins to emphasize the need for a change in U.S.

At Powershift 2011 in Washington, D.C., Earth Day Network hosted a dynamic afternoon panel discussion on women’s leadership in the green economy, featuring emerging women leaders from Solar Sister, the 

Grassroots environmental heroes too often go unrecognized.

In the 21st century, we still appreciate and commemorate the tremendous strides our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers made during the women’s suffrage movement.  However, we forget that work remains to be done to truly achieve an equal society and sustainable future for all.  Women are still under-represented in executive boards, political legislatures, and other decision-making bodies. Yet, we need women’s collaborative approach to problem-solving, and their creativity and leadership to grow a post-carbon economy.