The theme for Earth Day 2019 is: Protect our species.
“The world is facing a mass extinction of species. All species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods (insects and arachnids), fish, crustaceans, corals and other cnidarians, and plants have declined, in many cases, severely. Human civilization has had a negative impact on most living things”
Fact Sheet: Global Species Decline: https://www.earthday.org/2018/05/18/fact-sheet-global-species-decline/
“The good news is that the rate of extinctions can still be slowed, and many of our declining, threatened and endangered species can still recover if we work together now to build a united global movement of consumers, voters, educators, faith leaders, and scientists to demand immediate action”
Fact Sheet: Global Species Decline: https://www.earthday.org/2018/05/18/fact-sheet-global-species-decline/
Earth Day Network’s goals for 2019 are to:
- Educate and raise awareness about the accelerating rate of extinction of millions of species and the causes and consequences of this phenomenon.
- Achieve major policy victories that protect broad groups of species as well as individual species and their habitats.
- Build and activate a global movement that embraces nature and its values.
- Encourage individual actions such as adopting plant based diet and stopping pesticide and herbicide use.
https://www.earthday.org/campaigns/endangered-species/earthday2019/
Earth Day is directly connected to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular Goal 14 Life Below Water and Goal 15 Life on Land: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
Goal 15. Target 5:
The urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg15
Useful Links and resources for Earth day:
- https://www.teachervision.com/holidays/earth-day
- https://www.earthday.org/
- https://www.livescience.com/50556-earth-day-facts-history.html
- https://www.teachervision.com/holidays/earth-day
You can also explore the personal dimension and take action to combat of species extinction through the UNs Wild For Life campaign:
- https://wildfor.life/the-campaign
- Find your kindred species here: https://wildfor.life/quiz
- Further resources: https://wildfor.life/resources
Other Names and Languages:
| English | Earth Day |
| Arabic | يوم الأرض |
| German | Tag der Erde |
| Hebrew | יום כדור הארץ |
| Korean | 지구의 날 |
| Norwegian | Jordas dag, Internasjonal Moder Jord-dag |
| Spanish | Día de la Tierra |
