Celebrating EARTH DAY - Saturday, April 22nd

All these beautiful photos are by Jeremy Ritch, a member of the Tasmanian Fungi Group

On Earth Day I usually like to visit our National Parks because it’s that time of year when the Fagus leaves are turning, but I’m still grounded, so I’m taking vicarious pleasure in fellow fungi aficionado Jeremy Ritch’s beautiful photos and the birds outside my window. There’s a very cheeky Wattle Bird that has learned to mimic my car alarm which is a bit unnerving until you see it. Still, there are lots of ways to celebrate Earth Day even for couch potatoes. Check out a few of them here.

I really liked the sound of The Sunflower Project in the USA, but there are plenty of others to choose from. If not much is happening where you live perhaps you, your school or even your workplace could start one.

Here are a couple of other things to celebrate:

In January 2023, the EU upheld its ban on bee unfriendly neonics which had been temporarily suspended

Tool libraries are springing up in cities all around Australia. These are terrific for those one -off jobs and things you only need to do occasionally. They are also good for people who don’t have much money or those who simply want to reduce their carbon footprint. Here’s how it’s done.

Have you thought about xeriscaping your garden? This would be especially suitable for dryer parts of Australia. Find out more here.

France, The Netherlands and Belgium are all paying employees for every kilometre they cycle to work.

For the first time in 26 years the US EPA has set new limits on toxic chemicals in drinking water.

Forty three countries and several major brands including Avon, L’Oréal and Johnson and Johnson have now banned animal testing for cosmetic products
Spain has introduced tough new laws against mistreatment of animals. Unfortunately this doesn’t apply to bullfighting, but is a big improvement nonetheless.
Last Friday New Zealand finished its last export of live animals by sea, a practice which has now been completely banned for animal welfare reasons.
In March UN delegates reached a landmark international agreement to protect biodiversity and ensure sustainability of marine species on the High Seas.
In another big win for the UN in March, 175 countries signed up to develop a binding Agreement on Plastic Pollution by 2024.

Much has happened on the conservation and rewilding front too. For example, in South America due to lack of action by goverments, some two million hectares of land have been protected privately and an investment firm in New York is seeking to buy up oil concessions in the Congo to turn them into Conservation areas which will definitely be good news for the gorillas which make their home there.

There’s a lot more good news at FutureCrunch and remember that these things have only happened because someone noticed a problem and cared enough to do something about it.