Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! 🌏

Since 1970, activists and investors have used 22 April to encourage the world to come up with a new plan of action to protect the planet.

After the 1969 oil spill that caused massive damage in California, Gaylord Nelson, the New York senator at the time, created Earth Day to appeal to college and university students to take notice of environmental issues and push for them to be included in the national political agenda.

It was a raging success.

More than 20 million Americans participated in the first Earth Day, in events focused on pollution, oil spill damage, and wildlife loss.

Since then, Earth Day has led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and led to the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts.

There’s been more progress and developments since last year’s Earth Day. Rich nations agreed to set up a loss and damage fund to help developing nations adapt to and recover from climate events; countries have committed to protect 30% of Earth’s land and water by 2030; power generated from renewable energy reached record levels; the US passed the Inflation Reduction Act to move the economy away from fossil fuels; and the cost  of electric vehicles and solar energy installations plummeted.

The World Meteorological Organization released its State of the Global Climate 2022 report this week. It found that the past eight years were the hottest ever recorded. Sea levels are rising at more than double the pace as Antarctic ice fell to its lowest extent on record, with glacier melt “off the charts”.

But this is only the beginning. There’s still much to do. We can all do something. 

Earth Day is now celebrated by billions of people in 192 countries. You can too.

Check out this list of 52 ways to invest in our planet, and this list of 40 fun ways to celebrate Earth Day.

— Tarryn ✌️

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This week's climate and sustainability news worth noting

🐅 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the 'International Big Cat Alliance', an extension of Project Tiger, which aims to prevent poaching and illegal wildlife trade of seven big cats: tiger, lion, cheetah, jaguar, leopard, snow leopard, and puma. Since Project Tiger launched 50 years ago, India has successfully increased tiger, leopard, and Asiatic lion populations. Just a few weeks ago, the country celebrated the birth of four cheetah cubs after they were declared extinct there in 1952.

🐛 A new rewilding centre - the first of its kind in the world - has opened to the public in Scotland. Trees for Life bought Dundreggan in 2008 and has since been rewilding it. The centre wants to bring rewilding to a wider audience and aims to encourage people to think differently about broader landscapes. It features over 4,000 species of plants and animals, including many rare and protected species.

🪸 A new coral reef with abundant marine life has been discovered off Ecuador's Galápagos Islands. The "totally pristine" reef is around 2km long and 400m deep and has more than 50% living coral. Meanwhile, scientists have bred Ningaloo corals in a lab for the first time - a potentially game-changing technology for global reefs and species like the sunflower sea star, whose population has dwindled by 90% and is likely to be listed as endangered. And the Australian government has committed AU$150 million to boost water quality on the Great Barrier Reef. 

⚡️ The Group of Seven (G7) rich nations has agreed to speed up renewable energy development and the phasing out of fossil fuels. The Group has set new targets for renewable energy, including increasing offshore wind capacity to 150 gigawatts by 2030 and increasing solar power to more than 1 terawatt by 2030. It reaffirmed its commitment to achieving a fully or predominantly decarbonised power sector by 2035 and to achieve net zero energy systems by 2050 or sooner. Other targets include reducing plastic pollution to zero by 2040 and cutting emissions from G7 vehicle stock by at least 50% by 2035.

🤝 Israel and Azerbaijan have signed a cooperation agreement on environmental protection, including air quality management, water management, waste management, climate change mitigation and adaption measures, prevention of land degradation, and promotion of environmental technologies.

🇦🇺Australia has introduced tax incentives for motorists who buy new electric vehicles. EV sales in the country have overtaken petrol-driven vehicles in the medium-sized car category for the first time.

🌳 US President Joe Biden pledged $500 million to help end deforestation in Brazil‘s Amazon rainforest. He also announced intentions to scale up clean energy technologies and cut carbon emissions by between 50% and 52% by 2030.

And in business news:

🪫Greenpeace says the global semiconductor manufacturing industry is projected to more than double its power usage by 2030, consuming more power than the whole of Australia did in 2021. 

🧴 The Climate Disclosure Programme (CDP) has added a new feature to its global environmental disclosure system, enabling companies to voluntarily report their plastic production and use.

I'll leave you on this happy note...

Gorillas fascinated by caterpillars.

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