Earth911 honors 52 years of Earth Day with 52 Earth Actions. Each week leading up to Earth Day 2023, we’ll share one action you can take to invest in the Earth and make your own life more sustainable. Knowledge of the climate is a prerequisite for climate action, but few of us really understand how the climate works. It’s not like they teach us that stuff in school. This week, you can take action for the Earth by visiting the video library to learn more about climate and the environment.
Action: Visit the EarthDay.org Video Library
Climate education
In the 1990s, climate change was still called global warming, and college science classes were still debating the reality of climate change. So, if you graduated from school around the turn of the century, chances are you were never officially informed about the causes and effects of anthropogenic climate change. Unfortunately, even if you’re still in school, there’s a good chance that your education in climate science is insufficient. According to a 2020 study by This is planet Edonly 27 of 51 U.S. school systems scored a B+ or better for climate education standards.
Individual learning
Non-formal education is not the same as learning science in the classroom. But EarthDay.org’s individual advocacy and climate literacy campaign still has a long way to go to achieve universal, compulsory and assessed climate and environmental education with a strong component of civic engagement. Until that ideal is achieved, many – maybe even most – of us are on our own when it comes to making sense of climate information.
Websites like Earth911 are great for learning more about the environment and climate change. But sometimes it helps to dig a little deeper into a topic. Attending lectures by scientists and environmental professionals is a great way to gain in-depth expert knowledge. But attending events in person can be a challenge, and not every community earns a spot on the public speaking circuit. This is where webinars come in.
Earth Day Live
EarthDay.org Earth Day Live explores Earth’s pressing environmental problems and examines a variety of environmental solutions. These hour-long seminars bring together experts and professionals for in-depth conversations about the real-world solutions being explored in their fields. On the International Day of Education, they examined the relationship between educational equity and climate action. At another recent seminar, a panel of professionals discussed how new methods of textile recycling and new innovative textiles can make the fashion industry more sustainable.
This week, visit the Earth Day Live website and add an upcoming event to your calendar, or scroll through past events and choose one to watch. For even more options, visit the EarthDay.org YouTube Channel. Playlists collect videos from specific or themed events, while individual videos cover topics ranging from lion populations to plogging and reporting on campaigns and events around the world. This week, browse their extensive video library and learn more about an environmental topic that interests you. And if video isn’t your favorite way to learn, check out the Earth911 podcast for more in-depth interviews on environmental topics.
