Earth Day is on April 22, 2021

 Taken from Earth911 website

                                                                                  

"Earth Day on April 22, 2021, marks the 51^st year that people around the world have marched and participated in projects to clean up the environment. After another year of extreme weather and higher global temperatures, let’s use Earth Day to start our personal transitions to sustainable living with a 10-year-Earth Decade Plan to eliminate one big source of CO² from our lives.

The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report established that humanity had approximately 12 years to reduce CO² emissions to 45% of the global levels recorded in 2010. Doing so will stabilize global temperature. Combined with additional cutbacks, land restoration, and carbon capture technology, it will put us on a path to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels enjoyed by our grandparents.

Big changes in every aspect of life are required, but not the wholesale abandonment of modernity. We can eat meat grown responsibly, switch to renewable electric power in transportation, and adopt nontoxic, efficient production processes to achieve a society that could look more like Star Trek than Mad Max. It is time to give up fear and act boldly.

Get Involved in Earth Day

Earth Day launched in 1970, the same day President Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency. This year, Earthday.org aims to get 1 billion people involved in Earth Day, with events throughout the month and on Earth Day.

This year’s theme is Restore Our Earth. Learn about the upcoming climate action summits planned for the week of Earth Day 2021, and watch the site for news about other events.

• Ready to start restoring our Earth? Check out 51 actions you can take today.
• Participate in the Great Global Cleanup by joining a group or picking up litter on your own — on Earth Day or anytime!
• Hosting an Earth Day event? Register it online so others can join.
• Another great way to help is to contribute to the nonprofit Earthday.org.

Transforming Your Personal Carbon Impact

Change is hard, but we can do it for our families and future generations. The suggestions below represent starting points for a plan to cut the carbon output of your life. These are just a few of the many possible steps you could take. Each of these ideas is likely to require significant effort. And, in some cases, a significant expense.

If you choose one big project annually, such as replacing your internal combustion car with an electric vehicle, eliminating excessive carbon-producing foods from your diet, or switching to sustainable sources of clothing, electronics, or groceries, the cumulative reduction over a decade can make a meaningful difference. If we all did it, humans could hit the 45% goals laid out by the IPCC.

You can transform your carbon impact over the next decade by taking any of these steps:

Go Meatless at Lunchtime

Let’s say you and three friends go to lunch and each of you has a quarter-pound hamburger, the four of you will consume a meal that cost almost 4,226 gallons of water to produce. Add to that the 26.4 pounds of CO² emitted by the steer and production process, and a weekly commitment to avoid beef at lunch twice a week will reduce your group’s carbon footprint by 2,750 pounds a year.

If you can’t stomach the absence of beef, try one of the emerging alternatives, from mushroom-based to lab-grown burgers. Check out the Blended Burger Project led by the James Beard Foundation. The organization hopes to offer savory options that don’t waste water or produce as much CO² as beef.

Eat Locally

Eleven percent of food-related CO² emissions come from the transportation of your meal to the table. Make a change to buying local produce, meat, and dairy to reduce the environmental cost of your dining.

Watch for Earth911’s upcoming guide to Earth Day events and get started on your Earth Decade Plan. Then you’ll be ready to march with another billion humans on Earth Day 2021 with pride and accomplishments under your sustainability belt."

 These are just a few things that we can do, so I will be giving them a go, I already have meat free days and buy local produce, so I feel quite good about that!

The great global clean up is really interesting to me because I am involved with a wonderful group called Per La Mar Viva which goes out regularly cleaning up beaches and the sea around Menorca.  I know many people who, when they go out for a walk, always take a bag with them to pick up any litter they see lying around!  

The blog song for today is: "House of fun" by Madness

 

TTFN