By Nancy Price
April 2022

Plan Now for Earth Day on Friday, April 22. This year’s theme is INVEST IN OUR PLANET. It’s time for real, dramatic, revolutionary system change that puts People and Planet before Profit and Climate Justice+Women+Peace before war and destruction with women at the peace table. 

The Earth Day website has all the materials you need to plan. Scroll down the home page to register your own event or find one near you. 

The planners emphasize:

• This is the time to change it all – the business climate, the political climate, and how we take action on climate. 
• Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, and our livelihoods.

For Earth Day 2022, we need to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). It’s going to take all of us.  

As you plan for Earth Day, how will you and your Branch interpret the following questions:

• What issues in your community will bring diverse groups together to envision and cooperate on carrying out local solutions, especially for those of your neighbors harmed by climate and environmental Injustices? 
• What projects, plans, or proposals might you take to your city or county councils? What funding might you need?
• What kind of materials would you want to research and write for local education, mobilization, and action toward a Just Transition to green, sustainable energy, and food security for low-income residents in your community? 

Help organize an event in your community for the Great Global Cleanup®a worldwide campaign Earth Day planners highlight. It’s to remove billions of pieces of trash from neighborhoods, beaches, rivers, lakes, trails, and parks to reduce waste and plastic pollution, improve habitats, and prevent harm to wildlife and humans.  

On this Earth Day, are we moving toward realizing the promise of  Martin Luther King, Jr’s Revolution of Values?

Join the Poor People’s Campaign—A National Call for Moral Revival on June 18 in Washington DC.

At this terrible time of devastating destruction of the cities and communities, ecological destruction and climate impacts, and death in Ukraine, let us remember that the first Earth Day in 1970 resulted from the coming together of the anti-Vietnam war and environmental movements.

We are headed into a mid-term election season when our civil and constitutional rights are under attack, and the future of people and the planet is threatened by the evils of racism, poverty, militarism, and ecological devastation. The founders of Earth Day in 1970 knew so well then the need for education, massive mobilization, and legislation.