Earth Day – does it provide hope, make a difference or is it actually something that blinds us to a greater truth? Protect the environment, it demands; let us create a truly sustainable future, it implores. But shift the status quo? Not if it pushes up the cost of living!
An illustrious history
“Every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.” So reads the official website of Earth Day, and who am I to say this is not true, though there a number of contenders for the ‘birth of the modern environmental movement’ (including the publishing of Silent Spring in 1962, the passing of the (US) National Environmental Policy Act in 1970 or the staging of the UN Stockholm Conference of 1972).
Born in an age of peace protests against the Vietnam War and growing unease about environmental disasters such as the Santa Barbara oil spill, there’s no doubt the birth of Earth Day was a special moment in the world’s environmental consciousness. On that first Earth Day it’s estimated 20 million Americans took part in rallies, marches, and teach-ins calling for environmental reform. And its creators claim the movement it helped engender played a pivotal role in significant environmental legislation (including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act) and important international conventions.
Over subsequent decades the Earth Day movement spread beyond the US, and the event is now observed in 193 countries and claimed to involved around a billion people. According to Denis Hayes, who organised the first Earth Day back in 1970, it’s the “largest secular day of protest in the world”. Heady stuff indeed.
A real difference?
But is it changing humanity’s path? Let’s consider the planetary boundary of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, considered by many Earth System scientists to be a key threshold for the security of our future.
Multiple scientific organisations have been measuring carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere and have tracked its remorseless increase (Figure 1, NOAA). Back in 1970 the carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere was around 325 parts per million (ppm). On Earth Day 2025 it was 430 ppm.
Earth System scientists believe a safe level of CO2 is around 350 ppm, and have called this level a planetary boundary above which trouble lies for humanity. We breached this boundary back in May 1986! Since then the only trend we’ve observed is that CO2 concentrations have been increasing at an increasing rate!
According to Our World in Data (a project of the Global Change Data Lab based at Oxford Uni in the UK), cumulative CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry since 1970 have risen to 1.8 trillion tonnes (figure 2). It’s been estimated that this represents over three quarters of all the CO2 released by humans.
And, during this time, the world has warmed more than 1.1 degrees C (Figure 3, plot by Zeke Hausfather)
Now Carbon dioxide concentration is just one Earth Systems variable. Over this same time period we’ve also seen accelerating losses of biodiversity, nutrient pollution, declines in water resources and land degradation; indeed, Earth System scientists now estimate we have breached six of nine planetary boundaries that effectively delineate a safe operating space for humanity – and keep in mind we only have to breach one boundary for any length of time for humanity’s future to be endangered.
In the meantime…
In the meantime, Earth Day rolls on getting bigger and more attention all the time.
And every corporate player or government institution with any connection to the environment uses Earth Day to actively virtue signal how proud they are of their involvement in environmental awareness, research and protection. Take the NOAA Coral Program as just one small example in which it proudly tweets on Earth Day 2025 how it’s celebrating the many values (ecosystem services) provided by coral reefs around the world. No mention of the ongoing destruction of coral reefs worldwide because of climate warming which is progressively shutting down our valuable coral reefs. (Though to be fair, NOAA does briefly talk about threats on its website that readers are directed to. On top of this, the current US administration has a fiscal gun pointed at NOAA’s head if it dares mention climate change, so virtue signalling is possibly all it can do.)
And speaking of the current US administration, if you want the worst example of abusing Earth Day’s noble intentions while cloaking yourself in Earth Day’s virtuous environmental livery, check out this recent story from the White House. Its perversity is boldly trumpeted in the heading: “On Earth Day, We Finally Have a President Who Follows Science”.
This story tells us that “Under President Donald J. Trump, America is back — leveraging environmental policies rooted in reality to promote economic growth while maintaining the standards that have afforded Americans the cleanest air and water in the world for generations.”
The story tells us that the President who promised us America will “drill baby drill” (expanding US fossil fuel interests) is “promoting energy innovation for a healthier future”;
-opening up US forests to increased logging to “reduce catastrophic wildfires, and promote sustainable land use” while improving wildlife habitat;
-“ending the forced use of paper straws” (because, apparently paper straws contain dangerous PFAS chemicals);
“cracking down on China — the most prolific polluter in the world”; and
-protecting wildlife by “pausing certain wind projects” because the President recognises that wind turbines have detrimental environmental impacts on wildlife.
Seriously, this could be a comedy sketch if it wasn’t so important.
Fifty five years on
This is not what the founders of Earth Day had in mind when they started planning over half a century ago ways of galvanising community protest for better environmental outcomes. But maybe it’s something they should have expected when every action promoting sustainability is couched in terms of not harming economic growth or damaging the status quo. It’s all about incremental improvement to a situation that is rapidly spiralling out of our control.
The past half century has lifted large chunks of humanity out of poverty while witnessing technological innovation beyond the imagining of past civilizations. At the same time, we have pushed our planet, our only habitation, outside of a safe operating space for our species. There is a growing consensus that coming generations will not have the opportunities and quality of life we enjoy today, and the uncertainty of climate change is already seeing dislocation, degradation and rising costs for everyone (though the poorest suffer the most).
We tell ourselves it will be okay; we celebrate Earth Day each year on the 22 April and reflect on how much has been achieved. But we do so without acknowledging the tsunami of change building up around us with every day.
Of course we need to celebrate environmental success stories. However, when they become excuses to accept a status quo that is killing our future, then surely they are just another siren song of Business as Usual, a seduction to allow BAU to continue unchanged.
Banner image: What lies inside Earth Day? Hope, joy, and maybe the misplaced idea that we’re heading in the right direction. Image by Syaibatul Hamdi from Pixabay)
0 Comments