On Earth Day 2021, the world turns to Climate Action to address the urgent need to Restore Our Earth™

Today, we are reminded that Climate Action requires a year-round effort. In this blog, we commemorate Earth Day 2021 by examining the Five Pillars to Restore Our Earth™. We also offer an overview of Earth Day summits, and look at two ongoing environmental initiatives: Climate Action, Goal 13 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Sustainability Victoria’s TAKE2 climate change pledge initiative.

The Five Pillars of Restore Our Earth™

1. The Canopy Project™ – endeavours to improve the environment by planting trees across the globe. Since 2010, tens of millions of trees have been planted with The Canopy Project, working worldwide to strengthen communities and ecosystems.

EARTHDAY.ORG works with partners around the world to reforest areas that have sustained damage from human activity and environmental disasters. Communities most at risk from climate change and environmental degradation have also been assisted.

2. Food and Environment – a foodprint measures the environmental impacts associated with the growing, producing, transportation and storage of our food – from the natural resources consumed to the pollution produced and greenhouse gasses emitted.

While it is important to assess and find ways to reduce our foodprints, there are many factors that inform what and when we eat including access, affordability, health and culture. There is not one prescribed diet for everyone. This campaign hopes to highlight the different ways individuals and institutions can make a positive impact on their foodprint.

3. The Great Global Cleanup™ – Sign up, show up, clean up. According to Clean Up Australia, volunteers across the nation managed to remove more than 350,000 items from 1,274 surveyed locations in 2020, a mighty effort considering COVID restrictions, but litter continues to be a worldwide problem. The Great Global Cleanup™ hopes to raise awareness about this ever-increasing issue while encouraging groups and individuals to participate in cleanup projects:

• Group Cleanups – Small groups can have a big impact! Use the interactive map in this section to see clean-ups around the world (including Australia). You can also register your clean-up project.
• Individual Cleanups – Whether it’s a lot or a little, every piece of litter picked up makes a difference. From picking up cigarette butts, the most abundant form of plastic pollution, and cleaning up your favourite walking trail to cleaning your home, you can make an impact.
• Plogging – Pick up while jogging!

4. Climate Literacy – More than 50 years ago, the first Earth Day started an environmental revolution. Today, the importance of climate literacy is recognised as crucial to saving the planet. Along with civic education, climate and environmental literacy will create jobs, build a green consumer market and allow citizens to engage with their governments in a meaningful way to solve climate change.

5. Global Earth Challenge™ – Beginning in April 2020, the Global Earth Challenge™ helps engage millions of people while integrating billions of data points from new and ongoing citizen projects.

Earth Day Live 2021, 22 April

The Earth Day Live digital event will begin at 12pm Eastern Time (2am, 23 April, AEST; 12am, 23 April, AWST), and will include workshops, panel discussions, and special performances that will focus on the Restore Our Earth™ theme, such as:

• emerging green technologies
• climate and environmental literacy
• reforestation efforts
• regenerative agriculture
• equity and environmental justice
• citizen science
• cleanups, and more.

Leaders Summit on Climate

US President Biden has invited 40 world leaders, including Australia’s PM, Scott Morrison to the Leaders Summit on Climate, which will be streamed live for public viewing on April 22 and 23. It is hoped the summit will galvanise efforts by the world’s leading economies to reduce emissions, find ways to finance a net-zero transition to help vulnerable countries cope with climate impacts and more.

Climate Action, Goal 13, SDGs

Climate Action is Goal 13 of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Collectively, it is hoped the SDGs will help create a more sustainable future, with Goal 13 focussed on taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

Goal 13 has the following five targets to be achieved by 2030:

1. Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related disasters

2. Integrate climate change measures into policy and planning

3. Build knowledge and capacity to meet climate change

4. Implement the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

5. Promote mechanisms to raise capacity for planning and management.

Goal 13 also has eight indicators or metrics to track whether the five targets are achieved.

The UN explains: Affordable, scalable solutions are now available to enable countries to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies. The pace of change is quickening as more people are turning to renewable energy and a range of other measures that will reduce emissions and increase adaptation efforts.

Lastly, as countries move toward rebuilding their economies after COVID-19, the UN Secretary-General has proposed six climate-positive actions:

1. Green transition: Investments must accelerate the decarbonisation of all aspects of our economy
2. Green jobs and sustainable and inclusive growth
3. Green economy: making societies and people more resilient through a transition that is fair to all and leaves no on behind
4. Invest in sustainable solutions: fossil fuel subsidies must end and polluters must pay for their pollution
5. Confront climate risks
6. Cooperation – no country can succeed alone.

To address the climate emergency, post-pandemic recovery plans need to trigger long-term systemic shifts that will change the trajectory of CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

Sustainability Victoria’s TAKE2

TAKE2 is Victoria’s collective climate change program supporting individuals, government, business and other organisations to help the state achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

In 2018, CourtHeath took the TAKE2 pledge making a public commitment to tackle climate change as stated on our TAKE2 profile page. Featuring the work we have been doing to reduce our emissions, our page also includes our plans for the future and asks others to make the TAKE2 pledge and join us to help keep the temperature rise under two degrees.

Our pledge in part: “…to improve our environmental performance across all our business activities, and encourage our business partners and members of the wider community to do the same. We practice sustainable procurement, purchasing goods and services that are less damaging to the environment and human health.”

Visit TAKE2 for more information.

For information about Earth Day™ 2021 activities, please visit our Earth Day™ 2021 part one blog.

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A participant in the UN Global Compact, CourtHeath seeks to raise awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals and the principles of the Global Compact with business and government organisations in Victoria.

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IMAGE: Used under licence from shutterstock.com

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Written by Wendy Cavenett

[category courtheath's blog]

[EarthDay2021, climatechange, climateaction]