April 22, 2020 is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the annual celebration of the environmental movement. According to the 1970 EarthDay.org, nearly 20 million Americans have gathered to demand greater attention to protecting the planet. Since then, activists around the world have gathered to celebrate the day every year.
Ironically, this year’s Earth Day takes place during one of the most widespread and deadly epidemics the world has seen in generations. As a result, any meetings or other face-to-face events had to be cancelled – but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate the occasion while it hides on the spot.
Over a thousand different programs from all over the world are listed on the Earth Day website. All will take place on Wednesday, April 22, unless otherwise noted. An example includes:
Earth Day Live 2020
A number of activists, as well as entertainment and political celebrities, will present debates, performances, teachings and recommendations for action on the Earth Day movement’s office website. This will happen for 24 hours. Attendees include Pope Francis, Steve Ballmer, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Dave Matthews.
Animation and Poetry for the 50th Earth Day
This is a program of 10 animated short films by artist and animator Marilyn Zornado, curated by professional animators, college students and children, all from the Pacific Northwest. They’ll be available from 8am ET on April 22 to 8pm ET on Sunday, April 26.
Earth Day Art Model 2020
An “international telematics festival” featuring live performances by various multimedia artists will begin on Tuesday, April 21 at 20:00 and will continue until Wednesday, April 22 at 20:00.
Courtesy of Jupiter Artland
Jupiter Artland in Minecraft
At the World Earth Day Sculpture Competition, Jupiter Artland and Edinburgh Napier University’s Center for Interaction Design invite young people to explore sculptures by professional artists and build their own. The winning design will join Jupiter’s permanent collection.
Morphosis by Max Cooper and Memo Akten
Described as “a meditative study of the seemingly endless nature of space and natural physical structure,” this seven-minute YouTube event will take place Wednesday at 3 PM ET.
Earth Week Keynote: Nalini Nadkarni
The UVM Environment Program and the Gund Institute will sponsor a talk by Nalini Nadkarni, the pioneer of tree canopy ecology, from 16:30 to 18:30.
Nat Geo EarthDay Neighborhood Safari
National Geographic encourages kids to start their own safari by creating artwork featuring their favorite animals (resources on the website) and then showcase their art so others can view them through their windows or while they (safely) wander around the neighborhood. .
This is just a very small sampling. There is a wide variety of other events taking place – for example, invitations for children to submit art or participate in singing, lectures on roof gardens in Nepal, and a climate workshop for students in Belarus.
To find something you might like to participate in, you can visit: Earth Day 2020 event page here you can click on an event on a world map or navigate to the page via an event calendar. You can also filter events by genre, age group and language, or add your own (if you haven’t already).
Update on April 22, 2020, 8:30 AM ET: This article has been updated to include the Nat Geo event.
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