Earth Day has long been a time where people all around the globe come together on April 22 to celebrate all that has been done to protect the natural environment and bring attention to what still needs to be done.
But due to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual celebrations held in small towns and big cities have been canceled, forcing advocates to make a shift to a digital movement to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day held on April 22, 1970.
Scott Hecker, Director of Bird Conservation/Shorebird Initiative at the International Conservation Fund of Canada and chair of the Temple Conservation Commission, remembers giving a speech as a freshman at his high school for the first Earth Day, talking about the fox dens and owl nests on a local property that was proposed for development.
Over the course of the last 50 years, Hecker has given many talks on Earth Day and was scheduled to speak at RiverMead this week. But for Hecker, Earth Day shouldn’t be a once a year observation.
“We can’t have just one time a year where we think about the planet,” Hecker said. “We need to think about it all the time.”
According to www.earthday.org, “over the 24 hours of Earth Day, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day will fill the digital landscape with global conversations, calls to action, performances, video teach-ins and more. While Earth Day may be going digital, our goal remains the same: to mobilize the world to take the most meaningful actions to make a difference.” The theme for the 50th Earth Day is climate change.
And if there’s anything the stay at home guidelines and social distancing practices have taught people, Hecker said, is that the natural world is available at all times – regardless of a pandemic or not.
“We all need to spend more time in nature,” Hecker said. “And because of what’s going on, people are reconnecting with nature.”
Susie Hunter of Peterborough said as a regular Pack Monadnock road walker, she has noticed a remarkable increase in the visibility this past month.
“Views of Boston’s skyline, snow toped Mt. Washington and long views of the Green Mountains in Vermont are much more common than in the past,” Hunter said.
She wondered if it might have something to do with fewer cars on the road and after talking with an employee of the air quality station at the top of Pack, she was told they have observed a 40 percent decrease in a wide spectrum of air pollutants over the past month.
According to current air quality data on NH Department of Environmental Services website, the ground-level ozone, more commonly called smog, was 41 parts per billion on Monday afternoon, well below the federal health based standard for an 8-hour concentration of 70 ppb.
“It’s like a Sabbath for the planet,” Hecker said.
And while people can’t gather like they traditionally do on Earth Day, there are a few local options.
Jaffrey’s Virtual 50th Earth Day Celebration has been made into a film and will be available for viewing on Wednesday on YouTube, after the cancellation of the Jaffrey celebration. It includes a welcome by the Town Manager Jon Frederick, Jaffrey Earth Day Proclamation read by Frank Sterling, Governor Sununu’s New Hampshire Earth Day Proclamation and a keynote presentation by Dr. Catherine Owen Koning, Environmental Scientist and professor at Franklin Pierce University. There is music, a Shakespeare reading and a reading of Greta Thundberg’s speech to the United Nations. You can find the film by searching Jaffrey Conservation Commission on www.youtube.com.
In recognition of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the Bennington Conservation Commission is sponsoring a “Keep Bennington Beautiful” poster contest. All Bennington students in kindergarten through grade 12 may enter. The posters should be vertical designs at least 8 1/2” x 11”, they can be larger. The poster should be creative and encourage people to not litter.
Poster entries should be submitted by email to mikemunhall@gmail.com or valgermain2@gmail.com, by April 30. Put “poster contest” in the email subject line. The entry should include the student artist’s full name and current grade level. The winning posters will be made into signs to be posted along Bennington roadsides later this spring.
The 5th Annual Souhegan Sustainability Fair was to be held this past weekend, but was forced to be canceled.
But to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, those at the Souhegan Sustainability Fair would love to hear from you.
Where were you for the first Earth Day in 1970? Or any subsequent Earth Days? How has the environmental movement impacted, inspired you? Share your “Earth Day Stories” along with links you’d like to share, news etc. on the Souhegan Sustainability Fair’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/souhegansustainabilityfair.
On Wednesday, April 29 at 6 p.m, the Monadnock Sustainability Hub, along with Climate Action New Hampshire, will present an online screening of “Chasing Coral”, a documentary about the scientists studying coral, and their concerns about the effects of global warming.
For additional information, visit https://greenmonadnock.org/events.