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This is exactly what Earth Day 2021 is all about and here's how you can celebrate it

Everything you need to know.

22 Apr 2021

You've probably heard of Earth Day by now (and if not, you should have). Either way, pop it in the diary on the 22nd April - it's an important one, seeing as it involves the future of the planet, and our life on it.

It all started on the 22nd April 1970, when millions of people in the US hit the streets to protest the environmental impact of industrial development. Smog and pollution were serious problems and people demanded change. In July that year, President Nixon's government created the Environmental Protection Agency and put environmental preservation into law with the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and many others.

Now, Earth Day is a global event on the same date every year, when we get together to demand action on environmental damage. More than a billion people in 192 countries take part in the action each year, so it's a pretty big deal. Since it began over 50 years ago, people have march, written to their leaders, signed petitions, planted trees and cleaned up their roads. It's all pretty amazing, really.

Obviously, this year's Earth Day has to be a little different. With the global pandemic (which ironically is intrinsically linked to the exploitation of our planet) still causing travel bans and widespread social distancing, there are no in-person protests or physical events being organised. Luckily, that doesn't mean that there won't be action. Instead, this year there is three days of online streaming on the Earth Day website - free for all to watch and join in with.

The action kicked off yesterday with a youth climate summit led by Earth Uprising in collaboration with My Future My Voice, OneMillionOfUs and hundreds of youth activists as well as a multilingual summit featuring prominent activists from across the world, focused on transformative climate education. On 22nd April (Earth Day itself), there are workshops, panels and special performances from 5pm UK Summertime, focusing on Restore Our Earth, including natural processes, green technology and innovative ideas to help achieve environmental justice.

Right now, the world is facing the greatest rate of extinction since the dinosaurs died out more than 60 millions years ago – which is pretty astonishing. The only difference is, this time around, it's humans who are to blame. We didn't kill the dinosaurs (they were a little before our time), but we are responsible for countless deaths in the animal kingdom. We've done immense damage through climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, poaching and trafficking.

While we may not be able to get together physically, we can still work together to protect and save endangered species – like bees, elephants, whales, giraffes, insects and coral reefs - as well as brainstorm solutions for future preservation and spread news of important progress that is being made in green technologies. There's still hope that we can save the planet, if we work at it now.

So that's what this Earth Day is all about: asking people to join the climate action. The Earth Day Network wants to raise awareness of the extinction and endangerment rates, educate people about the consequences of our actions, get major policy change, encourage people to change their personal habits and start a global movement.

To start, you can register for a virtual event here, and sign up here to become a member and find out how you can take action. You can donate here. Your future depends on it.