It’s been fifty-three years since the first Earth Day, so at Switch2Zero we've decided to talk to our friends and families about their experience of environmentalism, Earth Day, and how perspectives have changed over the years.
Here’s what they told us:
1970’s
“I remember all the Berkeley students were outside with signs and flowers. My husband was complaining because he thought our nephew might get injured again like when they were protesting the war, but there were no police that I could see. Later, we read there were thousands of demonstrations all over the country. I thought it was just some hippy kids wanting to be outside more, but there were politicians talking about changing the way we lived. I’d never thought about the car before. Or where my garbage went.”
-Barbara, 92, California
1980’s
“By the time we emigrated we’d just had a baby, so between the new city, new job, new human it didn’t really seem like that big of a deal. In the finance industry, we were starting to hear a lot about climate change and the associated risks to lending and investments, but it was also being framed as a way to increase insurance premiums and sell more securities, so I think I became a little cynical about the whole thing. But you know what, when we went to Niagara Falls I was completely speechless at the power of those falls- and that’s both man and nature, you know?”
-Alan, 66, Toronto
1990’s
“I was a kid obviously, so I mostly remember, like, bucket hats with floral prints on them, but I also remember lots of talk about the Ozone Layer and about the plastic rings from six-packs strangling ducks. After that I’d sit on the floor when my mum got home with the shopping and meticulously cut up all the plastic into non-stranglable chunks. I’m suddenly realising I was probably making chokeable chunks and tbh we now know plastic’s suffocating the oceans and we’re all made up of microplastics anyway but, I do remember that Earth Day felt really hopeful. Like we could fix the Ozone Layer and save the ducks. And we actually did do one of those things so there’s still hope. (Not just for hats).”
-Claire, 35, New Jersey
2000’s
“It’s funny and quite sad now but basically through my whole teens and early twenties environmental stuff was a big joke. You know, there was that South Park episode with Al Gore, or “granola suicide” woman in About a Boy, and there’s a character on How I Met Your Mother who’s an environmental lawyer for like two seconds until he decides he wants more money/power…and what kind of message is that? That caring about the environment is annoying, or pathetic, or somehow emasculating. And meanwhile while we were all trying to be too cool to care or so over it or above it or whatever, we were ramping up the harm we were doing to the planet. I feel a lot of guilt about that.”
-David, 42, Brussels.
2010’s
“I actually think Earth Day means so much more to me now than it did when I was young. When you’re a kid, the whole year is punctuated with celebrations and holidays from different faiths and cultures that you study and learn about and I think for most of my childhood, Earth Day was just like another one of those days that came and went every year, just without a day off. But I guess in like 2014 when I got really online I started seeing statistics and then I started watching Attenborough and it’s like suddenly the weight of what we’re facing really hit me hard. And yeah, I guess like some big cliche I decided to give up milk and I try to cycle everywhere, but Earth Day is actually really meaningful now- because it’s a reminder of how precious our planet is, and it’s a day of gratitude and it’s a day to renew my commitment to making sure my grandkids get to live in a world of greenery and fresh air and life in the oceans.”
-Anya, 26, London.