How Earth Day shifted from strikes to a 72-hour livestream

Azalea Danes, a high school student in New York City and an organizer with Extinction Rebellion, was sitting in her bedroom in March, on a call with Earth Day organizers, when an alert from Mayor de Blasio popped up on her phone. School was officially closed for at least a month and a half. 

Danes and fellow youth activists from a broad coalition of climate justice groups had taken the lead in preparation for Earth Day 2020; the 50th anniversary was poised to be a turning point. 

It was just that on the inaugural Earth Day, on April 22, 1970, when 20 million people packed into city streets, gathered in parks, and filled sidewalks across the United States to demand a healthier planet. The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency was established in July of that year, and the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts followed. The first UN Environment Conference was held two years later.

Earth Day has been an annual, global event ever since. With scientists warning that 2020 must be the year of broad, structural change to curb the worst impacts of the climate crisis, the pressure was on to inspire a mobilization as intrepid as that first one. “We had so many plans,” recalls Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day Network. Events were coming together around the globe. The pope was scheduled to speak. “We were arguing over how many people we could pack into St. Peter’s Square.” 

The Youth Climate Strike (#Strikewithus), was organizing a three-day lineup of mobilizations — a U.S.-based effort with global reach. And the movement was riding a wave of momentum, fueled by a series of wake up calls in 2019, from the dire warnings of the IPCC report to Greta Thunberg’s fiery speech at the UN Climate Action Summit to a surge of student protests and a record number of voters making climate change a top issue. 

This was the year to bring that heightened, cross-generational awareness to the streets — to gather, rally, and join hands. Then suddenly, this became the year we would all have to stay inside. 

The global spread of COVID-19 abruptly took over daily life, demanding drastic responses around the world, and forcing people to socially distance themselves and avoid public places. Rallies and in-person protests suddenly could not take place.  But climate justice organizers pivoted quickly — refusing to let this opportunity for global action to address climate change pass by.  

It would be a type of gathering that Earth Day founders couldn’t have imagined, but one that comes with new potential to reach even more people.

Danes sat on that call while processing the reality of not going back to school, not seeing her friends, not gathering with fellow activists. “Someone was like, we have to figure out how to completely replan [Earth Day] for 80 local groups across the country,” she recalls. “It was shocking.” 

The solution was obvious but daunting. Just as conferences, birthdays, and happy hours have moved to online platforms like Facetime, Zoom, and Google Hangouts, Earth Day 2020 would need to become an entirely digital experience. It would be a type of gathering that Earth Day founders couldn’t have imagined, but one that comes with new potential to reach even more people. Rather than relying on whatever local activities are happening in their area, or being left out because there are none, participants will be able to drop into live streams and educational opportunities about the environment all over the world. 

“We’re looking at this as an opportunity to reimagine what a social movement can look like in a digital age,” says Katie Eder, Executive Director of Future Coalition. 

The Youth Climate Strike Coalition announced Earth Day Live on March 24, just four days after New York City officially went on lockdown. Starting on April 22, Earth Day Live will present a three-day livestream of talks, performances, teach-ins, and digital actions across the U.S., and in partnership with Earth Day Network, around the globe. So far the lineup includes David Wallace-Wells, Patricia Arquette, Moby, Jane Fonda, Al Gore, John Kerry, Angela Rye, and many more. 

Earth Day Network’s live stream will include a global map of presentations and digital actions on April 22. From Okotoks, Alberta, there will be an educational stream for growing vegetables at home; Habitat for Humanity in Ontario will host a social media celebration of ways to protect our home planet; from New York City there will be a digital “march” in which participants can share protest signs as a massive mosaic of videos; from Buenos Aires and Rio, protesters can create avatars and gather in iconic public places without leaving home. All of these place-based streams can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection, anywhere in the world. 

The Youth-led Earth Day Live will stretch beyond Earth Day for three days of themed actions. April 22 is “Strike,” to focus on community-building, storytelling, and amplifying the voices of Indigenous and vulnerable communities — those who are often hit first and hardest by the climate crisis. “Divest,” on April 23 will call for the divestment from fossil fuel projects and reprogramming the economy to support people instead of profit. The final day is “Vote.”  

Izzy Laderman, an activist with the Michigan Youth Climate Strike and one of many youth organizers of Earth Day Live, sees this shift to digital as a valuable opportunity to focus on education and accessibility.

Laderman was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome just last year after struggling with chronic pain for much of her life. She uses a cane to walk, which makes marches and rallies challenging. A digital Earth Day gives her the opportunity to participate for much longer than she could on her feet. “There’s already been a shift in the youth climate movement away from just striking and towards education.” Laderman says accessibility is often a blind spot in the climate justice movement. But with everyone sitting at their computers with time and access to learning new things, instead of gathering at rallies, a deeper look at often overlooked issues like disability justice within the climate movement is possible. “My goal is to make sure [accessibility] is on their minds.” 

There’s already been a shift in the youth climate movement away from just striking and towards education.

As organizers wrangle speakers and performers and prepare to livestream those socially-distanced presenters to the homes of millions of participants around the world, the widespread impact of COVID-19 is on everyone’s mind. 

In a press call to cover the shift to Earth Day Live, youth activists emphasized that a global pandemic and climate change both reveal inequalities and injustices and require a long-term response that makes life more sustainable for everyone — not just in an environmental sense, but for the economy and human health. Intersectionality in the climate justice movement might be a newer concept to the early generations of environmentalists, but for youth activists, it’s always been a part of the conversation. Through Earth Day Live, they’re bringing that conversation to homes around the globe. 

“This is a chance to talk about societal and political shifts towards a different way of functioning that prioritizes the economic and physical wellbeing of all people,” says Nina Agrawal-Hardin, a high school junior and organizer with the Sunrise Movement. “It’s a critical turning point for our movement and our society.”

The online platform won’t offer easier access for everyone. Laderman notes the shift to online learning since schools had to close has presented challenges for certain students in her district. “We have a lot of rural students who physically can’t get internet access,” she says. Instead they receive a packet of learning materials through a pickup system, which leaves them out of group discussions with their classmates. A lack of internet access will be a barrier for Earth Day Live, too. 

Still, this digital shift is a necessary one as the climate movement works tirelessly to keep the pressure on politicians and policy makers, while rallying global support for climate justice without leaving home. For organizers pushing forward, especially for youth activists whose education has been dramatically disrupted, Earth Day’s 50th anniversary has provided a sense of purpose and unity. Along with a lot of work. 

“I spend a lot of time on the computer lately,” says Agrawal-Hardin. “There have been a lot of conference calls.” 

Rogers sees significant promise in this rising generation of activists. But she worries about them, too. 

“They are awesome kids,” says Rogers. “They are in your face. They’re appropriately obnoxious. But also, they’re high schoolers. I see that burden they carry and I want to cry.” 

Danes says burnout is a concern for herself and her peers — especially amid this new global crisis. But her community of fellow activists helps her maintain the energy, and stay connected during this time of isolation. She’s had several online bonding nights with fellow organizers, watching movies and using apps to play games together from afar. And that’s outside of the countless hours they’ve put into organizing a global movement. “It’s been pretty difficult to be stuck inside, but we’ve really come together.” 

She says overall, the pivot to Earth Day Live has gone pretty smoothly, “which is a testament to our resilience in this movement.” 

On April 22, 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day, spoke to a crowd in Denver, Colorado. “Are we able to meet the challenge? Yes. We have the technology and the resources. Are we willing? That is the unanswered question.” 

This year, the answer might arrive. Youth activists and generations of organizers are saying yes — and hoping the world will join them online. 

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