Every year on April 22, Earth Day is celebrated in over 190 countries. Year after year, a new focus is set. This year’s motto is to take climate action – i.e. to mobilize the world to take the meaningful actions to limit global warming.
What is the Earth Day?
In 1970, Earth Day was born as a student movement in the United States. However, the movement not only mobilized students, a total of 22 million people took part. This was a first strong signal to politics and the public that environmental issues should be given priority. Since then, millions of people and organizations in many countries around the world have been demonstrating on April 22 to raise awareness for environmental issues. And the efforts were certainly not in vain, as many important environmental laws were passed in the United States and subsequently in many other states. In addition, the Earth Day helped to change the perception of many people on a local and global level and to start a shift to a more sustainable world.
Why climate action is necessary
The IPCC defines climate change as a change in climate over a longer period caused by external drives such as altered solar cycles or volcanic eruptions, and persistent human changes in atmospheric composition or land use. As can be seen in Figure 1, the warming of the earth’s surface is clearly visible. The IPCC considers it highly likely that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are the main cause of warming.
Figure 1 Global averaged combined land and ocean surface temperature anomaly
Source: IPCC 2014:3
Despite this alarming situation, according to Kathleen Rogers, president of the Earth Day Network, many are not yet fully aware of how necessary caesuras and changes in behaviour are. “Progress has slowed, climate change impacts grow, and our adversaries have become better financed […]. “We find ourselves today in a world facing global threats that demand a unified global response. For Earth Day 2020, we will build a new generation of environmentalist activists, engaging millions of people worldwide.”
Earth Day 2020
This year’s Earth Day takes place on the 22nd April and centers around taking climate action. In order to mobilize the world once more, the Earth Day Network is striving to digitally trigger concrete actions through inspiring videos, performances as well as tutorials and by giving diverse voices a platform in order to save the planet. Visit www.earthday.org on April 22 for 24 hours of content and action inspiring you to take action.
Getting active as a business
DFGE supports your company in getting more sustainable. We offer a variety of different services targeted at promoting sustainable behavior and climate friendly business conduct. We can help you deal with the challenges of the CDP climate change program and with adapting climate friendly business activities via Science-Based Targets and a Climate Neutrality approach.
If you have further questions or suggestions for discussion, you can contact us via or by phone at +49 8192-99733-20.
