Earth Awareness Days
ONGOING ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE DAYS
Check out the Annual Calendar of Environmental and Social Justice Awareness Days, which has a number of resources that go beyond the traditional Earth Day/Week/Month, Earth Hour, and Earth Overshoot Day.
EARTH DAY = April 22
Background: Earth Day is the largest global secular holiday. In 1970, the Earth Day movement began with 20 million people across the United States participating. Learn more about Earth Day History here and/or watch this video.
Ready to go Earth Day Lessons for ALL TEACHERS!
Earth Day Lesson Ideas by Subject Area and Grade Level: This document provides a list of lesson ideas and resources that can be used with students during Earth Week. Resources are organized by subject area and grade level, and can be used in a variety of circumstances: settings, for in-person, distance, hybrid, and concurrent.
Sample Earth Day Lesson (Integrated Subject Areas): This lesson provides a sample learning sequence for an Earth Day lesson that integrates content and skills from multiple subject areas.
Activities and resources for STUDENT LEADERS!
Earth Day Toolkit for Student Leaders: This toolkit is designed to support student leaders in middle and high school (6-12 grade) to plan activities and campaigns for Earth Day.
Student Led Environmental and Climate Action Initiative Resources : While these environmental and climate action initiatives projects could be done anytime of year, a great month to launch a project (or complete a project) is during Earth Month.
Earth Day Network - Join the Earth Day Network! EARTHDAY.ORG’s mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. The organization is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 150,000 partners in over 192 countries to drive positive action for our planet.
Actions and Challenges:
Student-Led Action Based Campaigns includes examples of 30 day challenges and regional competitions.
Climate Solutions: This organization has developed a new online platform, WeRenew, which is designed to help communities engage together on Climate Solutions by discovering their current carbon footprint, finding actions and resources right for their household, set goals and track their progress. Many Bay Area Counties have started county-wide and city-wide challenges. Get Started during Earth Month!
Other Earth Day (Month/Week) Curriculum Resources
EcoRise offers a vast digital library of virtual resources that are great for distance learning! Check out resources using their Virtual Resource Guide HERE.
Energize Schools Challenge is open to all high schools within the PG&E, SCE/SCG, and SDG&E territories. Launch a virtual sustainability campaign in your community.
Teacher Vision: Assortment of Resources
Green Schoolyards America: Bringing Outdoor Learning Home and Math in Your Backyard
Exploring and Celebrating the Earth- Distance Learning List- Resources curated for Earth Day and beyond for distance learning
WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL DAY - JUNE 5
Background: World Environment Day takes place on June 5th annually. This day is popularly being called “People’s Day” to show that people care and support the Earth and the environment. First organized in 1974, it has been a major campaign led by the United Nations for environmental issues ranging from marine pollution, human overgrowth, and raising awareness about global warming, sustainable consumption, and wildlife crime.
The 2021 theme is Ecosystem Restoration, and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration will be officially launched on this day. This decade long initiative aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. It can help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent a mass extinction.
Resources: A few great resources to engage with the momentum from World Environment Day are:
World Environment Day: This is the global website for World Environment Day and has a number of resources for engaging with this important day of awareness and action.
What Happened When We All Stopped: A short animated video, narrated by Jane Goodal, that captures the imagination of how we could use this moment for rebirth.
TED Ed’s Earth School: This has 30 Quests for students around the world to celebrate, explore and connect with nature.
Outrage and Optimism Podcast - Episode #55: Executive Director of The United Nations World Environment Programme, Inger Andersen, provides her optimism about dreaming up the regenerative world filled with biodiversity and a right relationship with nature. The interview starts at 21:30, and if you only have 25 minutes to listen start at 36:30, and if you only have 10 minutes to listen start at 45:35.
EARTH OVERSHOOT DAY
In last few years the date has been around late July or early August
Background: Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s demand for Ecological Resources and services in a given year exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. Earth Overshoot Day is hosted and calculated by Global Footprint Network. The first Overshoot day in 1987 was calculated to be October 23rd in the last few years the date has been closer to July or early August.
One Earth Video to Understand Earth Overshoot Day
EARTH HOUR - ANNUALLY AT THE END OF MARCH
Background: Starting as a symbolic lights-out event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, Earth Hour is one of the world's largest grassroots movement for the environment, inspiring millions of people to take action for our planet and nature. Every year millions of people, businesses and landmarks switch off their lights and set aside an hour to host events from 8:30 - 9:30 pm (local time), and make noise for the Earth Hour movement.
Resources:
WWF Earth Hour Website including activities for schools
Global Highlights: Earth Hour 2024, Earth Hour 2023, Earth Hour 2022, and Earth Hour 2021
Climate Action Week and the Conference of Parties (COP)
Climate Action Week (NYC): Traditionally climate action week has taken place in the second half of September, and has been hosted by the international non-profit, The Climate Group. This event is usually in conjunction with the United Nations General Assembly and ahead of the United National Conference of Parties (COP), with the purpose of bringing together business leaders, political change makers, local decision takers and civil society representatives of all ages and backgrounds, from all over the world, gather to drive the transition, speed up progress, and champion change that is already happening. Many cities and states often host local events in conjunction with this event. In the past five years these efforts have been led by California and New York City, at international summits such as the following: Global Climate Action Summit 2018, Climate Week NYC 2019, Climate Week NYC 2020, and Climate Week NYC 2021, Climate Week NYC 2022, Climate Week NYC 2023.
United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP): COP is an international climate meeting held each year by the United Nations. COP is short for “Conference of the Parties,” meaning those countries who joined—are “party to,” in legal terms—the international treaty called the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements. Parties to the treaty have committed to take voluntary actions to prevent “dangerous anthropogenic [human-caused] interference with the climate system."
Countries take turns hosting an annual meeting at which government representatives report on progress, set intermediate goals, make agreements to share scientific and technological advances of global benefit, and negotiate policy. The first COP meeting was held in Berlin, Germany in March, 1995. The COP takes place annually typically at the end of November and in early December.