April 22 marks the 55th anniversary of the Earth Day movement, which celebrates environmental action with this year's theme being renewable energy and efficiency.
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00:00Spring often brings revived life and new life, so tomorrow is kind of a day to celebrate it.
00:05It is Earth Day.
00:06It was started 55 years ago by the founders of what is now known as EarthDay.org back in 1970.
00:13Aidan Chiron is the Associate Director of Global Earth Day.
00:18Mr. Chiron, thank you for joining us today.
00:21Now, how has the Earth Day mission changed since 1970, and in what ways is it the same?
00:28Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
00:31Our mission really hasn't changed a lot in the last 55 years, 56 years.
00:36Our mission is to diversify, educate, and activate the environmental movement globally,
00:41and that's been our mission since the beginning, and it's going to stay the same moving forward.
00:46I think the only thing that changes is different governments come in, different technologies come out,
00:50and we just have to adapt to those changes, but we're always there to be the first entryway
00:55into the modern environmental movement.
00:56This year's theme is renewable energy.
01:00How does the weather impact power generation, both wind, solar, all different types?
01:06Yeah, so especially when it comes to solar and wind, you know, weather's going to play a huge role,
01:10whether that's cloud cover providing less sunlight, cutting sun power output,
01:14or snow blocking panels if not removed quickly enough.
01:17But also we see sunny days providing maximum solar panel efficiency.
01:21Wind energy, you're constantly looking for those consistent winds,
01:24which is why you typically see wind power plants and wind power turbines built on coastal areas with more steady winds.
01:32Hydro power is also hugely influenced by the weather because you need to make sure those water reservoirs are full,
01:37allowing that water to flow through the turbines and providing energy.
01:41Now, what are some of the activities planned for this Earth Day, and how can people get involved in those?
01:50You know, there's things happening all over the world.
01:53We have meetings with local council members, local politicians,
01:56and things that talk about environmental issues and promoting renewable energy.
01:59We're going to have some illuminations taking place all across the globe as well to commemorate Earth Day.
02:05And also just people are planting trees.
02:07They're going out, they're cleaning up their local neighborhoods,
02:09and they're just doing any small thing to promote Earth Day and to promote clean energy as well as environmentalism.
02:17If you go to earthday.org directly, you can find different ways of contributing to the environmental movement,
02:22and it could be as simple as talking to your neighbor about the benefits of renewable energy.
02:27We also provide strips and things for when you're talking to local representatives,
02:30if you want, you know, renewable energy to become a bigger part of your life and a bigger part of your communities.
02:36So we got straight to earthday.org.
02:38You can find different resources on different ways to get involved at every level.
02:42What are some of the positive global impacts from Earth Day and what is ahead this year?
02:49Yeah, so some of the positive global impacts of Earth Day,
02:52just right off the top of the head is, you know,
02:53we are considered the kickoff to the modern environmental movement since 1970.
02:58You know, we came out in 1970 and with it formed the Clean Air Act,
03:03the Clean Water Act in the EPA in the United States.
03:06Ten years ago, we also saw the signing of the Paris Climate Accords at COP,
03:11I think it was COP 20, COP 20.
03:13And then now we're going to see COP 30 coming up in Bel-Am, Brazil,
03:17towards the end of the year to further negotiate about climate
03:20and about environmental protections all across the globe.
03:24We also have something called the Global Plastics Treaty coming up.
03:26We're hoping to finish that out in August of this year.
03:29And we're just hoping to keep the ball rolling on renewable energy
03:32and just see those prices continue to fall when it comes to renewable energy
03:36and just see the uptake of renewable energy through this year and onwards to 2030.
03:41It's underway then, Barry, right?
03:43Again, Earth Day is tomorrow.
03:45Aidan Sharone, Associate Director of Global Earth Day,
03:48thank you again for joining us.