Earth Day 2017 will take place on Saturday, April 22. Image: Shutterstock
Earth Day Network (EDN), the global organizer for Earth Day, is launching a three-year campaign for environmental and climate literacy. Its goals are to promote mandatory environmental and climate literacy education, along with civic engagement and sustainable economic development.
“We need to build a global citizenry fluent in the concepts of climate change and aware of its unprecedented threat to our planet,” said Kathleen Rogers, President of EDN. “Environmental and climate literacy is the engine not only for creating green voters and advancing environmental and climate laws and policies, but also for accelerating green technologies and jobs.”
Using the teach-in concept that was used on the first Earth Day in 1970, EDN hopes to build an international movement that aims to educate citizens about environmental and climate issues. It also wants to mobilize citizens across the globe to speak the truth about climate change, and empower the public with the civic engagement and outreach skills they’ll need in order to take action for the environment in their communities.
The three-year campaign for global climate and environmental literacy will culminate on Earth Day 2020, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The network hopes that by then, 7.8 billion trees—one for each person on Earth—will have been planted.
“As we face the realities of climate change—unpredictable temperatures, endangered species, and an increasing number of severe weather events—ensuring that our children are prepared to become environmentally literate citizens is more essential than ever,” said Dan Abrams, Director of Earth Day.
People interested in participating in EDN’s campaign can download teach-in tool kits from EDN’s website.
Earth Day Network is the co-organizer for the March for Science rally and teach-in on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. According to the organization, more than 100,000 science marches and teach-ins are being organized in the U.S., India, and other countries.
“We are especially pleased that scientists are reaching out to EDN and the environmental community to participate in Earth Day and our worldwide activities,” Rogers said.
If you are organizing a march, teach-in, or other action, you can register it on EDN’s website and help them measure Earth Day’s impact around the world.