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EDITORIAL: Let’s improve planet’s prognosis this Earth Day

Earth Day Canada’s theme is ‘Call in Sick for Earth Day,’ recognizing ‘eco-anxiety’ people may feel
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Earth Day is Friday, April 22. (Stock photo)

This week is another Earth Day and a time to consider whether we’ve made our planet any better during its latest trip around the sun.

For Earth Day on Friday, April 22, the charitable organization Earth Day Canada has come up with the theme of ‘Call in Sick for Earth Day’ this year, meant to recognize the “eco-anxiety” affecting more and more people.

Earth Day Canada is hoping Canadians will start conversations and “remedy together,” and offers dozens of ideas including shoreline or neighbourhood cleanups, tree planting, volunteering with environmental groups, watching environmental documentaries, or organizing events such as “sustainable transport” day.

We shouldn’t underestimate the impact of what might seem like small community feel-good initiatives. We need to continue to find hope to balance the despair that we may feel.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report suggested humans are on track to make Earth an unlivable planet as global temperatures keep rising above what’s sustainable and potentially what’s survivable.

It’s hard not to feel discouraged at the scale of some of the environmental degradation and careless pollution that’s seemingly out of our control.

But if saving the world requires major changes and minor adjustments, where do we start to differentiate between what’s making a meaningful difference and what isn’t? That’s why we can’t underestimate the responsibility each of us hold in determining the Earth’s forecast and prognosis.

Any of us who are paying attention are feeling some level of eco-anxiety. This Earth Day, let’s do something about it.

READ ALSO: UN warns Earth ‘firmly on track toward an unlivable world’



editor@nanaimobulletin.com

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