* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Now, more than ever, we need an interconnected movement for the health of our Earth, families and economy
Mark Chambers is the director of New York City Mayor's Office of Sustainability
Peering out from behind window blinds, closed doors, and masked faces into a world quieted by COVID-19, there is an unavoidable dissonance between us and the natural world as we mark a significant milestone today - the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.
The first Earth Day in 1970 was more than a celebration that united environmentalists. It was an interconnected movement - racial and social justice reformers demanding clean air and water for their communities; entrepreneurs with bold ideas for systemic change; scientists urging data-backed solutions to protect neighborhoods from the fallout of mismanaged waste and pollution.
And at its core, a movement for the health of our earth, families and the economy.
But it was also a resistance built upon the shoulders of the civil rights movement, and now a blueprint we desperately need to reclaim as we retool our world after a public health crisis of unprecedented magnitude.
Within five years of that first Earth Day, we saw sweeping reform in the United States: the passage of an expanded Clean Air Act in 1970 prevented nearly half a million premature deaths and saved the US economy trillions; the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, the reason New York City Harbor is the cleanest it has been in over a century; the passage of the Endangered Species Act in 1973 protected the American bald eagle, along with many other species, from the brink of extinction and preserved critical biodiversity.
And the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency that embedded principled leadership into public service to ensure that our environment, national interests, and global authority thrived together.
Using the lever of public policy, each of these environmental milestones changed the course of how our natural world could thrive by protecting and cherishing the parts of it that were most threatened. Further, these landmark acts sought to ensure that Americans and American businesses would innovate in alignment with these shared values and be held accountable by both the law and the free market if they did not.
But the first Earth Day failed in not fortifying an unbreakable link between environmental justice and social justice. So these became two movements, instead of one. And as we see the havoc wrought by COVID-19 in New York City and across the country, where risks are disproportionately distributed due to underlying social, health, and environmental disparities, we cannot continue to proceed down a disjointed path.
Our health and the health of our neighbors is inextricably linked to the health of our planet.
To uphold the legacy of Earth Day, we must honor the civil rights origins that inspired it and take the lessons that came from that work: lessons of collective action, community activism, and fighting for justice. That means making your voice heard, staying engaged on the issues impacting your communities, and taking actions big and small in favor of a fair, green economy.
This Earth Day, like the one 50 years prior, we will see a cross-section of Americans advocating and engaged in direct and collective action. We must all embrace the power and potential of an interconnected and inclusive movement that seeks 21st century solutions for our cities, our planet, and our human species.
The most profound and direct way to heed that call is to show up at the polls this November. Register to vote. And then vote. Like your health, your economy and your planet depend on it.
This is part of a series focused on climate equity, justice and inclusion, written by members of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, a collaboration of global cities achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 or sooner.
