Earth Day - April 22, 2024 PLANET VS PLASTICS
Image: Amy Shamblen/Unsplash
I remember my first participation in an Earth Day celebration. It was a lovely simple celebration which helped us welcome spring and new life. Earth Day was first held on April 22, 1970. From that first celebration to 2024 we have grown in our understanding of the many ways that our beautiful earth is in crisis. A wide range of events have taken place and are planned worldwide with at least 1 billion people in more than 193 counties marking this day. As we hear more about damages affecting people and planet, the theme for this year is “Planet vs Plastics”. More than a theme, this effort has become a movement.
Planet vs Plastics unites students, parents, businesses, governments, churches and other faith communities, unions, individuals and NGO’s in an unwavering commitment to call for the end of plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, demanding a 60% reduction in the productions of plastics by 2040 and an ultimate goal of building a plastic-free future for generations to come.
Plastics are not biodegradable. They break down into smaller and smaller pieces which are ingested by animals, fish, birds and humans. Eighty-four percent of plastics contain toxins which pass into animals and our food chain. The oceans are sick, our planet is suffering and life is endangered.
All of us are invited to do something for the care of our only home and to turn to contemplate the creation around us. This contemplation of creation allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us, since, “for the believer, to contemplate creation is to hear a message, to listen to a paradoxical and silent voice.” (Laudate Si, 85) urging us to act.
-Sister Joan Atkinson, CSJ | Office for Systemic Justice