Earth Day 2023: Experts List "Simple Acts" To Protect Health Of The Planet

As the world gets ready to observe Earth Day to demonstrate support for environmental protection, scientists have warned of more extreme weather and record temperatures this year. The worrying change in the temperature is driven by climate change and the anticipated return of the "El Nino" weather phenomenon, they added. The 54th annual celebration of the environment will officially be marked on Saturday, April 22.

To mark the occasion, volunteers in dozens of countries will plant trees, clean up the garbage and urge governments to do more to combat climate change.

Thousands are expected to gather in London on Friday to begin four days of events known as the "Big One", organised by the Extinction Rebellion activist group. A rally will be staged in Washington urging President Joe Biden to commit to ending fossil fuel use.

On Saturday, volunteers will also begin major clean-up campaigns at Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir and Florida's hurricane-hit Cape Coral, according to news agency Reuters.

On Thursday, Mr Biden pledged to increase US funding to help developing countries fight climate change and curb deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest during a meeting with leaders from the world's largest economies.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told countries attending the US President's Major Economies Forum that "a quantum leap in climate action" was required to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius. He warned in a recorded Earth Day message that "we seem hell-bent on destruction".

Reiterating his message, Shombi Sharp, United Nations Resident Coordinator in India, said, "On this International Mother Earth Day, we find ourselves in the midst of a triple planetary crisis driven by pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change. Yet we continue to consume as if we have more than one planet for our 8 billion people and over 8 million species of plants and animals. In the words of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, we must make peace with nature, and the LiFE campaign that he helped launch at the invitation of Prime Minister Modi gives us concrete steps we can take to change our daily habits."

Mission LiFE was launched in October last year by PM Modi and Mr Guterres at the Statue of Unity in Gujarat's Kevadia and follows a three-pronged strategy for changing people's collective approach towards sustainability - nudging individuals to practise simple yet effective environment-friendly actions in their daily lives, enabling industries and markets to respond swiftly to the changing demand and influence government and industrial policy to support both sustainable consumption and production.

"Simple acts, from saying no to plastics at every chance, using our own water bottles and carrying cloth bags for shopping, to running our air conditioners only when necessary and then at 26 degrees Celsius, and many more, can have far reaching impact on the health of the planet. Let's all be change makers from today," Mr Sharp added.

Earth Day this year follows weeks of extreme weather with temperatures hitting a record 45.4 degrees Celsius in Thailand and another punishing heatwave in India, where 13 people died of heatstroke at a ceremony in Maharashtra on Sunday.