Is Earth Day 2021 a Joke? I Hope Not.
After four long years with the science-deniers in charge, Earth Day 2021 is upon us.
We’ve got just a few years left before our disregard for the planet gets serious and all the feel-good greenwashing activities foisted upon the public under the guise of “doing something” prove to be a waste of time.
Today’s column will point a few fingers and offer up a few useful suggestions for observing what has become the largest non-religious event on the third rock from the sun. Last year, over 100 million people around the world observed the 50th anniversary of what’s been called the largest online mass mobilization in history.
This year, the lingering effects of the pandemic have dictated another round of mostly socially distanced events. It should be noted that San Diego’s Earth Fair --despite what several out of date websites are saying-- has been postponed to September 19.
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California, land of the tree huggers, can’t even get its act together to recycle plastic.
Our recycling rate has actually declined over the past decade even as the annual tonnage of post-recycled municipal solid waste being placed in California’s landfills has increased by almost 50%
The California Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction Act proposed by Democratic Sen. Ben Allen and Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez would have significantly reduced single-use plastic waste in California by requiring most packaging to be either compostable or (actually!) recycled by 2032.
It failed (again) last fall, falling prey to the corporate interests who think the public should bear the burden for dealing with waste. Proponents are hoping to let voters have a say with a ballot measure in November 2022.
Look for an industry-sponsored big bucks campaign to try and tell the 90% of Californians who think plastic waste is a problem why this is a bad idea.
That 90% number just happens to match all the plastic ever made that’s NOT recycled. It’s being dumped in landfills, burned or let loose in the ocean and on the ground. And yet the petrochemical companies (most plastic is made from fossil fuels) are shamelessly ramping up production of single-use plastic in part to compensate for a decline in demand for gasoline.
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There is some really --really!-- good news this week.
The United Mine Workers now says it could accept a transition away from fossil fuels in exchange for new jobs in renewable energy, spending on technology to make coal cleaner and financial aid for miners who lose their jobs.
From the New York Times:
Many of these proposals appear in President Biden’s $2.3 trillion jobs and infrastructure plan, including funding for research into carbon capture, which critics deride as prohibitively expensive, and money for reclaiming mines.
“Change is coming, whether we seek it or not,” stated a document that the mine workers union released on Monday, titled “Preserving Coal Country.” It notes that employment in the coal industry had dropped to about 44,000 as of last December, down from 92,000 at the end of 2011.
So much for the Trump administration’s boasts about bringing the coal industry back….
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Meanwhile, the process of planetary degradation continues. According to the UN World Meteorological Organization, the temporary dip in carbon emissions caused by the pandemic had no discernible impact on atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases.
From the Guardian:
Last year was ranked as the hottest on record, in a tie with 2016 and 2019, despite the cooling effect of the cyclical natural climate phenomenon, La Niña. Without this, 2020 would most likely have been the hottest year yet. The decade 2011-20 was the hottest on record.
Extreme weather events broke records across the world, from hurricanes and cyclones in the US and India, heatwaves in Australia and the Arctic, floods in large parts of Africa and Asia, and wildfires in the US.
The International Energy Agency is warning that 2021 will see the second biggest annual rise of carbon dioxide emissions in history, as global economies pour stimulus cash into fossil fuels in the recovery from the Covid-19 recession.
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President Biden is convening a climate summit this week, with the leaders of 40 countries expected to attend, at which he will urge countries to come forward with strong commitments on cutting emissions this decade.
The administration will announce an aggressive plan to cut U.S. emissions, most likely around 50% by the end of the decade, compared with 2005 levels. This would be basically double the goal first put forward by President Obama as part of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
It is hoped the US commitment will augment efforts by European countries to persuade others to do more to reduce or eliminate their emissions. The elephant in the room will be China, which continues to need coal to fuel its economic growth. The long term benefits for developing economies aren’t politically powerful enough for leaders to take unpopular measures, and First World nations have yet to come up with a viable plan mitigating these consequences.
From Vox:
Leaders from small island and low-income nations, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and the Marshall Islands, were also invited to attend the summit. One of their key concerns is expected to be the shortfall in climate aid from developed countries, said Robert Bradley, the director of knowledge and learning at the NDC Partnership, which helps developing countries establish and pursue climate targets…
“The whole Paris agreement is based on a quid pro quo,” he said: Developing countries are expected to reduce emissions alongside developed countries, but in return, they are entitled to financial support. In 2009, developed countries pledged that they would be marshal $100 billion a year in climate finance for these countries, but they’ve fallen short.
During his presidency, Obama agreed to provide $3 billion for the Green Climate Fund, which supports developing countries’ mitigation and adaptation projects, but Trump did not deliver the outstanding $2 billion. Last week in his budget proposal, Biden slated $1.2 billion for the fund. “It is certainly very helpful,” said Bradley, “I don’t think anybody is going to argue that on its own it’s enough.”
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On Thursday, activist Greta Thunberg will appear before a House Oversight Committee panel for a hearing entitled “The Role of Fossil Fuel Subsidies in Preventing Action on the Climate Crisis.”
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Earth Day 2021 Stuff to Do...
The least you can do for Earth Day is pick a fight with your climate change denying relatives or neighbors.
Send them some quotes from this New York Times article on the science of climate change, complete with the most recent data collected world wide.
Here’s your handy-dandy list of topics:
How much agreement is there among scientists about climate change?
Since greenhouse gases occur naturally, how do we know they’re causing Earth’s temperature to rise?
Why should we be worried that the planet has warmed 2°F since the 1800s?
Is climate change a part of the planet’s natural warming and cooling cycles?
How do we know global warming is not because of the sun or volcanoes?
How can winters and certain places be getting colder if the planet is warming?
What will it cost to do something about climate change, versus doing nothing?
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While flat earthers are busy churning out excuses for doing little or nothing on Earth Day, you might as well enjoy some of the virtual learning experiences being offered.
The County of San Diego Land Use and Environmental Group’s Earth Day webpage has 19 virtual activities suitable for kids and parents alike. It’s mostly fun-looking stuff, with possible exception of clips from each of County Supervisors on what Earth day means to them.
The City of San Diego is sponsoring an Earth Day Drawing Contest for young ‘uns between 4 and 13.
City of San Diego staff will judge the entries and two winning artists will receive an environmentally friendly prize package courtesy of Think Blue.
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Back when I was a kid we’d watch the flying Pterosaurs (aka 'winged lizards') and hope their poop wouldn’t hit us as our means of hoping for a clean planet.
Today’s kids and the young at heart can check out NASA’s virtual Earth Day event – from Wednesday, April 21, through Saturday, April 24.
The program – called #ConnectedByEarth – will feature live presentations by NASA scientists, conversations with astronauts and scientists working in space, videos, interactive science content, a kid-friendly fun zone, a scavenger hunt, hundreds of downloadable resources, and more. Some content will also be available in Spanish.
Registration is free and open to the public. Register to participate here.
Earthday.org’s second annual “Earth Day Live: Restore Our Earth” online live stream event will be broadcast on April 22nd beginning at noon, featuring a variety of celebrities, politicians, and activists from many fields.
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On April 22, the University of Utah is presenting a series of online performance events, with most taking place at the campus’ Natural History Museum of Utah. The schedule will include a video mosaic, “four immersive performances, arranged under the classical elements: earth, air, water and fire,” a feature-length film exploring nature and humanity, a panel discussion, and a final program that features several different multimedia presentations.
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David Attenborough’s latest narrated special, The Year Earth Changed, is a documentary about how the global human lockdown affected the non-human inhabitants of Earth — often in a positive way. The film is streaming Apple TV Plus. The trailer is below...
https://youtu.be/XswV_yqPq28
Apparently “Earth Day Eve” is a thing now, at least according to the folks at National Geographic.
On April 21st at 5:30pm Pacific Time they’re hosting anEarth Day Eve 2021 virtual celebration, with performances by artists such as Angélique Kidjo, Willie Nelson, Yo-Yo Ma, and Ziggy Marley, and appearances by a number of environmental activists such as Dr. Jane Goodall. You can join at the NatGeo website or at its YouTube channel — and afterward, continue with the music of Jayda G on the organization’s TikTok channel.
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With Timelapse in Google Earth, created in collaboration with NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey's Landsat satellites and the European Union's Copernicus program and Sentinel satellites, you can watch the climate change in four dimensions.
Carnegie Mellon University's CREATE Lab helped develop the technology allowing viewers to explore 24 million satellite photos taken between 1984 and 2020 showing how human activity has transformed the planet over the past 37 years.
Developers identified five themes, and Google Earth offers a guided tour for each of them. They are:
Forest change, such as deforestation in Bolivia for soybean farming
Urban growth, such as the quintupling of Las Vegas sprawl
Warming temperatures, such as melting glaciers and ice sheets
Sources of energy, such as the impacts of coal mining on Wyoming's landscape
Fragile beauty, such as the flow of Bolivia's Mamoré River
You can also enter any location into the search bar, including your local neighborhood. While the feature does not offer the detail of Street View, it does show large changes over time, rather than smaller details like the construction of a road or home.
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Get trashy from the comfort of whatever screen you’re near. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Cultural Institute Los Angeles are sponsoring an online screening of the animated film TRASH. (In English)
Boxes, bottles, cans. Refusals. Abandoned in the street, under the bridges. Ignored by anyone. Inert. Until night falls ... Slim is a ruined cardboard box. He lives in a market, with his friend Bubbles - a soda bottle - and other companions. Resigned to his fate, he does not believe in the legend of the "magic pyramid": a mythical place where it is possible for waste to have a second chance, to still be "carriers", useful to oneself and to others. Her destiny changes when an unexpected accident bursts into her life: a small box named Spark. Spark is lost and is different from everyone else. It involves Slim and Bubbles in an adventure that will lead them to discover the magical nocturnal world of waste. But someone else is looking for Spark. An old and very powerful disused PC, Kudo, lord of the landfill.
Click here to REGISTER and receive the link to access the film - available for free from 6pm PDT on April 22nd to 11:59pm PDT on April 24th.
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https://twitter.com/RepCori/status/1384191758909640712?s=20
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PS. I’m taking the day off tomorrow for another one of those annoying procedures designed to mitigate the damage caused by my most recent round of cancer surgery. It’s painless, but requires anesthesia and getting to the hospital at sunrise. See ya Thursday.
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Lead image by Leandro De Carvalho from Pixabay