Ocean Acidification
Our oceans are being overwhelmed by the massive amounts of carbon dioxide they are absorbing. Since the Industrial Revolution, we have added about to 1.5 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and the oceans have absorbed about a third of that amount. Without the oceans, global warming would be far worse than it already is. They also help to mitigate human caused climate change. But the unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide being created by human activity has surpassed what the oceans can healthfully absorb, changing ocean chemistry and making them more acidic.
Global warming is increasing ocean temperatures and raising sea levels, creating a host of problems for the oceans and ocean wildlife. Recent discoveries have revealed that global warming is not the only problem for the oceans resulting from the massive amounts of carbon dioxide we are releasing into the atmosphere. The impacts of absorbing such huge amounts of carbon dioxide and heat include ocean acidification, sea level rise, disrupted marine food webs, depleted ecosystems and more.
These excessive amounts of carbon dioxide are actually changing the chemistry of the oceans, making them more acidic. Ocean acidification will have major adverse effects on tropical as well as cold-water corals and other marine life, especially those that produce shells. Even small changes in the acidity of the oceans can result in severe ramifications. As they become more acidic, corals and other organisms will find it increasingly difficult to build new skeletons and shells and those that already exist may begin to dissolve. The loss of many coral species will negatively impact the oceans and ocean-dependent economies, such as fishing and tourism.
Water and Your Footprint
The average American lifestyle is fueled by close to two thousand gallons of water a day. What may come as a surprise is that only five percent of that total runs through toilets, taps, and garden hoses at home. Nearly 95 percent of your water footprint is hidden in the food you eat, energy you use, products you buy, and services you rely on.
Take a water tour with National Goegraphic through your home, yard, diet, and transportation and consumer choices. Then, pledge to cut your water footprint and help return more water to rivers, lakes, wetlands, underground aquifers, and freshwater species.
Find out your water footprint, then join others who have already committed to saving thousands of gallons. The more we save, the more water we leave for healthy ecosystems and a sustainable future.
Take the Water Footprint challenge…
Earth Day and Arts for the Earth
In observance of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Earth Day Network created multiple global initiatives including Artist for the Earth, a campaign that involves hundreds of arts institutions and artists worldwide to create environmental awareness. Arts for the Earth is an innovative education program developed to teach sustainability and environmental education through museum and arts community networks. The goals for Arts for the Earth are:
- To promote best practices in sustainability within the extensive arts and museum communities
- To work with our arts and educator networks to develop creative lesson plans that deliver environmental education through the arts
- To feature artists who have incorporated environmental themes into their works
Program Goals for Museum and Art Venue Administrators:
- Engage the public through environmental programming
- Take measures to promote environmental sustainability within your museum or art venue and reduce your institution’s carbon footprint
- Publicize the above goals to your patrons, supporters and the public at large
Arts-related Sustainability Education Program Goals:
- Increase environmental education oppportunities using multi-disciplinary arts-based programming
- Encourage schools and after-school programs to develop Earth Day programs and events
- Develop more arts-based environmental curricula
Earth Day and Creating Climate Wealth Summit
The Earth Day Network will co-host the Climate Leadership Gala, with Carbon War Room and the American Council on Renewable Energy. This event is expected to attract up to 500 leaders of industry, government and non-profit organizations to the EPA Atrium of the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington DC to celebrate recent achievements in forging a path to a post-carbon future. The Gala will feature the same caliber of A-List musical entertainment and speeches by luminaries and world leaders that made it one of the capital’s top-billed events of 2010.
Earth Day Network, Sir Richard Branson and Carbon War Room will involve investors, business leaders, policy makers and civil society in expert panels and working tracks designed to educate, excite, and catalyze them to identify market-based solutions for a post-carbon economy. Past panels identified challenges to scaling up six cleantech sectors with gigaton-scale CO2e reduction potential by 2020: energy efficiency, distributed generation, shipping and freight, grid management, electric vehicles, and aviation and next-generation biofuels. This event will also will announce the Women and Green Economy (WAGE) Leader Award.
Earth Day and Women and the Green Economy
Earth Day Network is engaging women business, government and NGO leaders in its Women and the Green Economy (WAGE) Campaign to accelerate and provide the new thinking and creative power for a global post-carbon economy. The goal is to create a policy agenda for Rio+20 and generate relevant national initiatives that will promote the green economy, secure educational and job training opportunities for women and channel green investment to benefit women. Earth Day Network created WAGE in view of the following facts:
- Women constitute more than half of the world’s population
- Women make 85 percent of all consumer choices
- Women are rising to key positions of power
- Women can lead the way to a sustainable green economy
Women are leading key efforts in the climate and renewable energy discussion, from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who created a new office for women at the State Department, to Dr. Amina Benkhadra, Morocco’s Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment, to Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. Together, our most talented and successful women can fast-forward the green economy. Already, WAGE has attracted the following women sustainability leaders to its Global Advisory Committee:
Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, President and Founder, Interfaith Power and Light
Martha Delgado Peralta, Secretary, Mexico City Ministry of the Environment
Martha Duggan, President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, United Solar Ovonic LLC
Marina Grossi, Executive President, Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development
Dr. Pamela Hartigan, Director, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, University of Oxford
Jane Henley, CEO, World Green Building Council
Kristina Johnson, Former Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Energy
Donna Karan, Founder, DKNY
Rachel Kyte, Vice President, Business Advisory Services, International Finance Corporation
Elizabeth Littlefield, President and CEO, Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Mindy Lubber, President, CERES
Daniel B. Magraw, Jr., President Emeritus, Distinguished Scholar, Center for International Environmental Law
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon Ltd.
Charlotte Pera, Senior Vice President, Director of U.S. Operations, Energy Foundation
Sally Ranney, CEO, Stillwater Preservation, LLC
Stephanie, Rico, Head of External Communications and Marketing, Wells Fargo
Shannon Schuyler, U.S. Corporate Responsibility Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Dr. Lise Van Susteren, Forensic Psychiatrist and Environmental Activist
Mary Wenzel, Director of Environmental Affairs, Wells Fargo
Rebecca Wodder, President, American Rivers
Denice Zeck, Executive Director, American Forum
Jean Oelwang, CEO, Virgin Unite
Denise Bode, CEO, American Wind Energy Association
Katrina Landis, CEO, BP Alternative Energy
Vanessa E-H Stewart, COO, Co-Founder, Soltage
Aimee Christensen, Founder and CEO, Christensen Global Strategies
Maria Fernanda Garza, Vicepresidente, International Chamber of Commerce, Mexico
Earth Day and Green Schools
The Earth Day Network Green Schools Campaign, aims to green all of America’s K-12 schools within a generation. Green schools save money, conserve energy and water, and foster better-performing, healthier students. The program, used by over 30,000 teachers and administrators nationwide, provides innovative tools and resources to promote civic participation and to develop a sense of environmental responsibility among students of all ages.
Green schools provide an extremely cost-effective way to enhance student learning and health, reduce operational costs and environmental impacts, and increase a community’s overall quality and competitiveness. As a whole, multiple benefits accrue in economic, educational and environmental sectors to create a win-win situation for any green school project.
During the 2005-2006 school year, Earth Day Network was one of the first organizations to champion what has since become a national green schools movement. These schools are at the vanguard of the national education and environmental movements, combining traditional education approaches with 21st century innovations in building science, renewable energy, and green economy support.
The Green Schools Campaign helps communities save not only millions of dollars, but millions of pounds of pollution as well. With one-fifth of the American population working and learning in schools everyday, green schools are becoming the norm.
