Earth Day during Covid-19

On April 22, 1970, about 20 million Americans, 10 percent of the US population at the time, took to the streets, raising their voices for a better, more liveable planet. They saw how badly the environment was being contaminated and what needed to be done to protect nature. This led to the establishment of Earth Day, celebrated every year on April 22.

Today is the 50th Earth day, but there will be no grand rallies, no gathering of global leaders, no bells ringing in cities like Vienna, Berlin and Geneva—the celebrations will be wholly digital. In Bangladesh, Earth Day is observed in a limited way by different organisations. This year due to the pandemic outbreak, Earth Day will be observed with more importance. As Bangladesh is a victim of climate change, we need to take up this event with a more proactive role.

Earth Hour is also celebrated on March 28—an annual event encouraging individuals, communities and businesses to turn off non-essential electric lights for one hour as a symbol of commitment to the planet. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) started this in 2007 in Australia, which gradually spread to all major cities across the world. Similar to Earth Day, it creates a global concern for climate change, and makes us think of how we can, with seemingly small actions, contribute towards reducing global warming.

From the very beginning, Bangladesh became a part of Earth Hour and Earth Day. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set an example by switching off all appliances in her own office during Earth Hour and showing us the path to saving energy. In several public speeches, she has emphasised on saving power. Bangladesh even attempted to introduce daylight saving time from December 2009, bringing time back by one hour and giving us more work hours during daylight, but unfortunately this was discontinued in March 2010.

Earth Day is now observed globally, and a good number of countries also celebrate Earth Week to focus on environmental issues. Today, 193 countries are observing Earth Day, with this year's theme being "Climate Action". This huge digital civic celebration will demand that world leaders take science seriously, listen to their people and push for action at every level of society to stop the rising tide of climate change. This campaign intends to activate at least a billion people in climate action—a worldwide campaign to remove billions of pieces of trash, reduce waste and plastic pollution, improve habitats and prevent harm to wildlife and humans. The largest ever global citizen science initiative will be taken on this day regarding the health and wellbeing of the environment. This global campaign will also bring together artists in every discipline from around the world, using the power of their art to express our common humanity. A huge digital platform has been set up for different age groups to educate, motivate and involve people in their many innovative activities.

Due to a transport shutdown, which includes movement via air and sea as well as roads, and the shutting down of mills and factories, as well as the lockdown of cities, districts and provinces—a number of positive environmental impacts have been witnessed. The people of northern Punjab can now glimpse the Himalayas, and the air quality of Dhaka has significantly improved. We can list many such cases, but we cannot ignore the catastrophic loss of life and the economic shutdown that has come with it.

The coronavirus pandemic has also brought forward some extra challenges in terms of the environment. Globally, millions of personal protective equipment (PPE) are being used; the question of hygienic disposal of this PPE, including gloves and masks, is very important. Almost all of them are not biodegradable and can lead to generating greater medical waste.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also prescribed washing hands for 20 seconds with soap frequently, and product stock is running low in departmental stores and grocery shops. Concerned factories are working day and night, doing good business while catering to this huge demand. Likewise, the use of sanitisers has increased many fold. We know the main ingredients of sanitiser is alcohol and glycerin. A huge quantity of cleaning materials like bleaching powder and phenyl are being used globally, which ultimately goes back into canals and rivers. Without any doubt, these will cause harm to rivers and the different fish and other aquatic species that populate these waters. Only time will tell what impact all these various substances will have.

Soaps in general are biodegradable but detergents contain phosphate, which contributes to the growth of algae in water bodies. Aquatic animals are deprived of oxygen as a result. Aquatic animals and water plants can also be severely affected by common household detergent. Detergent makes the process of water purification more difficult as well. Some antibacterial soaps contain additives like Triclocarban (TCC) and Triclosan (TCS) that are not easily degradable and contaminate lakes, canals and rivers, which may cause health hazards in different ways. Alcohol based hand sanitisers have a lower chance of polluting the environment as it evaporates, but prolonged use over a long period may cause harm to the skin. Even then, after using hand sanitisers as and when possible, experts still advise the cleaning of hands with soap and water. We need to be very careful when using cleansing materials to disinfect as well.

On this Earth Day, let us commit to reducing pollution, energy efficiency, using more solar and wind energy, plastic and polythene prohibition, cleaning our canals and rivers, less travel and greater use of tele/video-conferencing, saving water, reducing, recycling and re-using (3R), using less paper, using bicycles to travel and planting more trees.

The founder of the modern scouting movement Lord Baden-Powell once said, "Try to leave this world a little better than you found it". Let us try to implement that in our everyday life—practice doing more with less and think of all the things we can do without.

Md Abul Kalam Azad is a Distinguished Fellow of the Global Commission on Adaptation and former Principal SDG Coordinator.