Happy Earth Day to all!

Each year, I'm asked why Earth Day matters and I'm truthfully exhausted with that argument. It just matters, okay!? (For a longer piece on that issue, read an old blog post called Why Earth Day Matters.)

One of the key reasons of its relevance is awareness and Earth Day has developed global themes for each year. This time it is The Face Of Climate Change. To help put that human face on climate change, the Earth Day Network collected images of people, animals, and places affected by climate change. It's not all doom and gloom: There are many images of people working hard to find a solution.

 

Check the Earth Day Network's description of the project:

Although climate change still seems a remote problem to some people, the reality is quite different. This past year marked many climate-change milestones. Arctic sea-ice cover reached a record low in September. The United States experienced its hottest year ever; this after the World Meteorological Organization announced that the first decade of this century was the hottest on record for the entire planet. Public perception of extreme weather events as “the new normal” grew, as unusual super storms rocked the Caribbean, the Philippines and the northeast United States; droughts plagued northern Brazil, Russia, China and two-thirds of United States; exceptional floods inundated Nigeria, Pakistan and parts of China; and more. Meanwhile, international climate change talks stagnated.

But as these Faces of Climate Change begin to multiply, others are multiplying, too: people stepping up to do something about it.

“The goal is to depict the very real impact that climate change is having on people’s lives and to unite thousands of Earth Day events around the world into one call for climate action,” said Franklin Russell, director of Earth Day at Earth Day Network. “The more people who participate, the more of an impact it will have.”

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