Donald Trump and First Lady Melania are taking part in a tree planting ceremony today at the White House to mark Earth Day.

Earth Day has now reached its 50th year, with millions estimated to take part in the annual day of environmental action to tackle the huge challenges facing our planet.

This year's plans for events have been upended by the coronavirus crisis, but the movement is taking 72-hours of digital action instead to celebrate the theme of climate action. It comes after the pandemic forced the UN to postpone the COP26 international climate conference set to put countries back on track to avoid climate breakdown.

Download the new Independent Premium app

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Meanwhile, the lockdowns introduced across the world have seen the skies clearing of pollution and wildlife returning to deserted streets, while US oil prices plunged below zero for the first time in history.

Please allow a moment for the blog to load

2020-04-22T18:26:18.000Z

People wearing protective face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus walk past a mural of the world in Philadelphia today. 

The city was one of the first to hold large demonstrations for Earth Day 50 years ago which featured activist and future presidential candidate Ralph Nader, poet Allen Ginsburg and Nobel prize-winning Harvard Biochemist, George Wald, among many others. 

Performances included the Broadway cast of the musical Hair and the Native American rock band, Redbone.
2020-04-22T18:14:54.000Z

The New York Times front cover from the first Earth Day - 22 April 1970
2020-04-22T18:08:54.000Z

No, the US does not have 'the cleanest air and cleanest water than anywhere else on Earth'

During his Earth Day address on its 50th anniversary, Donald Trump claimed that the US continues to have the "cleanest" air and water on the planet.

But according to multiple reports, including a recent assessment from the American Lung Association, the nation's air quality is in decline.

Nearly half of the US, roughly 150 million people, is breathing polluted air, the 2020 State of the Air report says.

2020 also marks the 50th anniversary of the Clean Air Act, which the Environmental Protection Agency has cited for most of the emissions reductions within the last few decades. But the Trump administration has proposed dramatic rollbacks to the law or dropped enforcement entirely.
Though the US has generally safe drinking water. more than 60 million Americans are exposed to dangerous pollutants in their water, following decades of industrial and farming pollution and deteriorating water infrastructure.

By Alex Woodward 

Advertisement

2020-04-22T17:24:54.000Z

Trump mocked for planting trees amid failure to tackle climate crisis

Trump has long denied the scientific consensus on the threat of climate change, saying at a 2015 rally: "Obama's talking about all of this with the global warming and ... a lot of it's a hoax. It's a hoax. I mean, it's a money-making industry, okay? It's a hoax, a lot of it."​

A defining feature of the Trump administration has been its rollbacks of environmental regulations and policies, including cancelling a requirement for oil and gas companies to report methane emissions; amending rules on how refineries monitor pollution in nearby communities and gutting ambitious Obama-era vehicle mileage standards that were intended to tackle fossil-fuel emissions and reduce air pollution.

Trump has also called time on the US's participation in the Paris climate agreement and continues to champion his allies in the oil and gas industry.

2020-04-22T17:24:54.000Z

Roger Waters plays live on the Earth Day Network live-stream
 

EARTH DAY LIVE

Earth DayToday, tune into Earth Day online. Watch live video from earthdaynetwork on www.twitch.tv Sign UP for UPdates AS EARTH DAY GOES DIGITAL: VIEW THE EARTH DAY LIVE GLOBAL PROGRAM Where we stand:  

2020-04-22T17:24:54.000Z

President Obama says we should follow young people's example on climate action

POTUS 44 shared his views to mark Earth Day and said that all of us should demand more of our leaders to tackle the climate crisis.

Advertisement

2020-04-22T17:15:46.640Z

Architect of the Paris Climate Agreement calls for bold action on climate change

Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change, said: "We can do it. Because we, the human species, have never had the capital, the policies and the technologies to put together in order to transform our world." 

2020-04-22T16:13:39.956Z

On Earth Day, calls for the environmental movement to be more inclusive

Minority and poor communities disproportionately bear the brunt of pollution and climate change.

Some 68 per cent of black people live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant despite being 13 per cent of the population, according to GreenAmerica.org, compared to 56 per cent of white people, making them more likely to feel the health impacts of pollution including breathing issues and heart conditions. More than a third of Latinos, who make up 17 per cent of the US population, also live within a 30-mile radius.

 

2020-04-22T15:35:55.316Z

Earth Day goes digital amid coronavirus pandemic

The movement is undertaking its first mass online gathering after in-person demonstrations were banned following the outbreak of the coronavirus. Updates on the number of confirmed cases and death tolls can be read here:

Advertisement

2020-04-22T15:00:41.000Z

Greta Thunberg says we should give a 'real sarcastic clap' for the companies destroying the world

On Twitter, Thunberg said that people should carry on applauding health care workers but that a special clap should be reserved for the companies still causing harm.

https://www.indy100.com/article/greta-thunberg-coronavirus-health-care-clap-climate-change-earth-day-2020-9477531

2020-04-22T14:41:39.000Z

Leonardo DiCaprio adds his voice to Earth Day

The actor and environmentalist has been involved in the movement since early in his career and has previously addressed the United Nations.

2020-04-22T14:26:41.000Z

IPCC wishes everyone Happy Earth Day

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change posted their "Happy Earth Day" messages (including in song from one member). The group is working toward its sixth assessment on the effects of climate change.

Advertisement

2020-04-22T14:06:41.000Z

Earth Day in lockdown: 7 ways the planet looks drastically different
 

Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and one of the strangest yet as most of the world is in lockdown and unable to actually enjoy much of the planet at all.

And it's not just people who are impacted. There are a number of ways -- good and bad -- that the environment has been affected by the global lockdown.

From extensive working from home around the world, to stalled emissions from lack of air travel, the earth is beginning to look completely different just in these past few months than it has for decades.

2020-04-22T13:53:16.090Z

Greta's fiery message on Earth Day

Greta Thunberg's Fridays For Future movement posted this fiery public service announcement on Earth Day. It echoed her words at last year's Davos World Economic Forum: "I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is." 

2020-04-22T13:45:30.000Z

North pole 'to be ice free during summers before 2050', scientists say

The Arctic Ocean will likely be ice-free during summers before 2050, researchers say.

Amid rapid global warming – with average Arctic temperatures already 2C above what they were in the pre-industrial era – the extent of the sea ice is diminishing ever faster.

Read Harry Cockburn's report here: 

Advertisement

2020-04-22T13:39:49.663Z

The first Earth Day demonstrators wore face masks too

Environmentalist Bill McKibben also pointed out the surgical masks used by Earth Day participants in 1970 due to the air pollution in America at the time.

2020-04-22T13:36:45.233Z

Oxford University votes to divest from fossil fuels

Oxford University has passed a motion requiring its endowment fund to divest from all direct investments in fossil fuel companies, and end future investment in funds that primarily hold stock in fossil fuel companies.

The resolution, which was passed the day before Earth Day, was hailed as an opportunity to allow Oxford University “to act as a world leader on climate conscious investment”.

2020-04-22T13:18:04.756Z

Green party calls for Green New Deal to reboot economy after pandemic

The Green Party has said that a “Green New Deal” has to be central to any post-coronavirus recovery package in the UK.

The party wants to see investment in making all homes warmer and more energy efficient, a rapid roll out of renewable energy and major investments in public transport, which it says would create hundreds of thousands of low carbon jobs.

Advertisement

2020-04-22T13:15:34.000Z

 

Fears Deepwater Horizon could happen again

A decade on, a group of scientists, conservationists and locals spoke to The Independent about the devastating toll of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the impacts that are still being felt today.

All of them fear that this could happen again, our climate correspondent Louise Boyle writes.

 

2020-04-22T13:12:30.000Z

Greta Thunberg: Tackle climate crisis and coronavirus together

Greta Thunberg said action to tackle coronavirus did not mean the climate crisis had gone away, as she took part in a livestreamed conversation with climate scientist Johan Rockström. 

“Today is Earth Day and that reminds us that climate and the environmental emergency is still ongoing and we need to tackle both the corona pandemic... at the same time as we tackle climate and environmental emergency, because we need to tackle two crises at once,” the 17-year-old climate activist said.