This story is published as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans participated in protests, festivals, and rallies on the very first Earth Day. The occasion launched the modern environmental movement and helped pave the way for the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later that year. Soon after, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, three pieces of legislation that improved public health and inspired countless conservation efforts. On that Earth Day, 10% of the population of the United States came together to protest industrial pollution and demand a sustainable future. And it worked: Our democracy responded with action that saved lives.
Now, 50 years later, President Trump denies the science of global warming and uses every opportunity to weaken environmental protections. And after a year of record heat, wildfires, storms, and floods, we are now facing a pandemic that has already caused mass unemployment and death.
Amid the COVID-19 crisis, climate activists like us have been told to put their concerns aside and focus on the task at hand. But as a student leader and public school science teacher, we feel the opposite must be done. This pandemic has exposed the brutal fault lines of societal injustice, so it is more important than ever that we collectively demand a future on Earth Day 2020.
The COVID-19 emergency has laid bare the deep inequality in our country, as vulnerable Americans — those without health care, living in neighborhoods with poor air quality, undocumented immigrants, service industry workers, incarcerated people, the housing insecure, and more — are not getting the support they need. These same communities have already been hit hardest by the impacts of climate change and our long history of environmental racism. It is in these communities — where asthma rates are higher because of a nearby power plant, or cancer diagnoses have exploded because of the hazards of fracking — that people are highly vulnerable to this deadly virus. Here in New York City, immigrant enclaves in Queens and low-income neighborhoods in the Bronx have been particularly devastated by COVID-19. This is a tragic result of environmental racism and disinvestment that highlights how health outcomes are intertwined with environmental protection.
The climate crisis will bring more disasters — and soon. That isn’t hyperbole; it’s the prediction of thousands of climate scientists. We know that climate change will cause more zoonotic pandemics, or diseases, like the novel coronavirus, that are transmitted from animals to humans, a link that has been highlighted by many in the past months. But if we don’t act now, by 2050 the climate crisis could displace more than a billion people by other means, including crop failures, floods, heat, and fire.
If it feels like the world is falling apart now, just give it a few more years. COVID-19 is a warning shot for the catastrophes to come, which is why how we respond now matters so much. It is no coincidence that the elements of a Green New Deal dismissed by some as socialist pipe dreams — a jobs guarantee, universal housing and health care, 100% renewable energy, investments in front-line communities — could have protected countless Americans from this pandemic.
Just as COVID-19 has, the climate crisis will destabilize our world beyond recognition. We must invest now in stronger public systems to keep people safe in the face of instability, and we must act now to shift to 100% renewable energy by 2030. More important, we must resist the fossil fuel industry’s attempt to use this pandemic as cover for further deregulation and kickbacks that endanger public safety during the crisis. We’re already seeing this trend: On March 26, the EPA rolled back its pollution regulations, allowing companies to “self-monitor” without penalty for violations. And President Trump just rolled back Obama-era clean car standards under cover of a pandemic in which air pollution is making millions of people more vulnerable to disease.
This is why it is critical to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with collective action. We know a Green New Deal is possible. We have seen our government spend $500 billion to bail out corporations in its initial $2 trillion coronavirus response, so the question is no longer how to pay for a Green New Deal, but when we will finally enact one.
That time needs to be now.
With the world economy in recession, our elected leaders have a chance to restart our economy with a green stimulus. Instead of bailing out the fossil fuel industry, we must bail out workers, invest in renewable energy, infrastructure, and housing, and lay the groundwork for a transformational Green New Deal that will center the experiences of communities on the front-lines of COVID-19 and the climate crisis.
We must also call for the wholesale divestment of our finances from fossil fuels. Financial institutions, like Blackrock and JPMorgan Chase, must completely stop funding the failing fossil fuel industry and instead invest in the renewable energy industry. For Earth Day 2020, we call on individuals, banks, universities, and corporations to use their leverage to stop the money pipeline that fuels climate change and deforestation.
We know another world is possible. We know we can have the future we deserve. Fifty years ago on that first Earth Day, 20 million people took to the streets. Now, just as it is imperative to stay home to protect ourselves and our neighbors, it is imperative to act together — from home — to demand a livable future. This Earth Day, we strike for climate justice, for a future, and for all we love. Join us.
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Coronavirus Shows Us Rapid Global Response To Climate Change Is Possible
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