April 22nd marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, a yearly event where we celebrate and protect the planet through tree plantings, cleanups, and other in-person community gatherings. The 50th anniversary was bound to be a big celebration of all the progress we’ve made on the climate front, but that’s not going to be possible with the COVID-19 outbreak keeping us indoors.
The good news is that Earth Day is going digital so those of us who are stuck inside can still engage with the holiday in a meaningful way. There are lots of fantastic initiatives in the pipeline, such as the streaming of a new eco-documentary at 2 pm EST called The Story of Plastic, which you can see on the Discovery Channel.
There are also a number of digital campaigns going on. One campaign, The EC2020, asks users to take photos of their horizon lines to compile information about the air quality around the world. Another campaign, Earth Challenge 2020, instructs users on how to collect data about their local air and water quality and insect populations; and Litterati is all about using citizen recordings to help construct a map of litter around the world.
Want more ways to celebrate Earth Day from your home, take a look right here.