Hugh Wilson, MSN Environment

What is Earth Day and why don't we care?

Happy Earth Day everyone! That’s right, April 22 is the day when up to half a billion people around the globe leave the car behind, or plant a tree, or buy only local produce, or in some other way show their concern for the environment by doing something positive to help it.

And yet, there’s a good chance you haven’t even heard of it. If that’s true, don’t feel guilty. When we rang Friends of the Earth to ask about their Earth Day plans, they hadn’t heard of it either. “To be honest, I hadn’t come across it before,” said a spokeswoman. “Some of the people in the office have heard of it but in the UK we don’t tend to get involved. It’s more of an American thing.”

American roots

It’s certainly an America thing. Across the pond Earth Day is huge. This year, rallies in eight US cities will attract hundreds of thousands of supporters, and events are planned on 1000 college campuses. Meanwhile, celebrities like Kevin Bacon and Chevy Chase have recorded messages of support, and organisers hope that a million Americans will telephone their local politicians to demand action on climate change. Given that this is an election year in the US, a little direct voter contact could be more worthwhile than usual.

And it’s fair to say that, as a whole, Earth Day has been very worthwhile. It has certainly been responsible for increasing environmental awareness in America, going right back to the first wave of green concern nearly forty years ago. In fact, the first Earth Day was held on 22 April 1970, decades before melting artic ice shelves or manmade global warming made front page news.

Tips for reducing your impact this Earth Day

The early years

But the 20 million Americans who took part in the very first Earth Day did care about industrial pollution and poor air quality. They could see sewage dumps, oil spills and toxic waste with their own eyes. They were aware that in some areas of what had once seemed a young and pristine country, wildlife was in decline as factories and freeways proliferated. And they didn’t believe, as many Americans did in 1970, that a taste of pollution on the breeze was a small price to pay for an economy that was only getting richer.

That first Earth Day is a reminder that environmental concerns are nothing new, even if their focus changes. It also sends a hopeful message to current climate campaigners. Earth Day 1970 shocked the American political class into action. It lead directly to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts. It made a real difference.

And Earth Day is not an exclusively ‘American thing’ anymore. In 1990, Earth Day went truly global, with 200 million participants in 141 countries. In 2000, British Earth Day celebrations were centred on the Millennium Dome. This year, major Earth Day events are taking place in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Caracas and Moscow, as well as in key American cities.

Corporate take over

But Earth Day is not without its critics, even from within the green movement. And it’s probably fair to say that, this year, the dissenting voices have been getting louder. Earth Day has become a victim of its own success, they say. When corporate America climbs on board - as it has, this year, more than ever – the real spirit of Earth Day is in danger of being drowned out altogether.

Campaigners have even compared Earth Day to Christmas or Mother’s Day: a simple idea submerged in a wave of consumerism. Unlikely Earth Day champions now include huge corporations like Wal-mart, Banana Republic and Macy’s. According to the magazine Advertising Age, many companies are using Earth Day “merely to drive up sales in a climate of reduced consumer spending.” It would be a terrible irony if people actually consumed more, not less, on Earth Day.

The ‘green washing’ of Earth Day may be one reason that that some large environmental groups ignore it altogether. Friends of the Earth in the UK are one. Greenpeace international are another, telling us that they “have no particular events planned for that day.” Alex Steffen of the environment promotion organisation World Changing says that this year’s Earth Day has “entered a new phase of meaninglessness” and should be the last.

The future

But many others believe that Earth Day still has something positive to say. Lloyd Alter of the green campaigning website Treehugger believes that the small steps advocated by Earth Day organisers can lead to bigger changes - eventually: “Small steps lead to education and awareness and that leads to votes and votes lead to change,” he claims.

So again, happy Earth Day to you all. Maybe – just maybe – it can make a difference.