Is Earth Day really doing much?

Posted on by Logan Reidsma

#EarthDay is today and with that many people will take to their keyboards to say they are celebrating it and doing their part to save the Earth. But are they really celebrating it, or are they just jumping on a bandwagon to make it seem like they are doing something? In today’s cultural their are a lot of lifestyle activist who might drive a Honda Prius and recycle all of their plastics but in reality are they making any difference in combating the degradation of the Earth. Earth Day comes around and people feel as if they are doing their part and it is fine. However, Earth Day is only one day and we are utilizing the Earth everyday, in both negative and positive ways.  A few of these tweets make poke sarcastically of how little Earth Day is actually doing. “In honor of #EarthDay, I will have both my vehicles idling in my driveway all day.” “In UK, Obama today rode in a SUV after a chopper ride and a carbon-spewing jet all the way from Saudi Arabia to wish you a happy #EarthDay.” Lastly, “We get so concerned about our planet On  . Why not EVERY day  is dying is it not? But we will die B4 it does ” all are raising the question, does Earth Day do anything significant?  I noticed many major corporations tweeting something that they are doing or their company has done that is supposedly conserving the environment, but in reality are they? Or are they just hoping on the train to draw positive publicity? It is hard to tell but I feel as if #EarthDay is in need of an overhaul.

 

6 thoughts on “Is Earth Day really doing much?”

  1. Hmm.. what an interesting phenomenon. We could argue that every one of these holidays is for bandwagons. I think just making sure the Earth is getting recognition is beautiful, but I do wish people cared more about the Earth everyday. I get so angry at my roommates for not recycling and for wasting gas, but maybe I’m a hypocrite myself. There’s a lot more that I could be doing for the Earth each day and recycling each week isn’t enough. Your curation has really made me think, so thank you!

  2. I agree this is such an important issue, there are so many times in modern society we see individuals acting as if they care for a cause on social media but not actually taking action. The problem this makes me ponder is what can we do to change this, how can we get people to notice. The point of Earth Day and the hashtag and everything else related to the day is to raise awareness so how can we do it differently when the people using the hashtag already think they are making a difference.

  3. It’s nice to see support for Earth Day, but it’s discouraging to think that a lot of people were just taking advantage of a social media opportunity as won’t care a week from now until next year.

  4. I have to agree with Josh, while I think the intentions of Earth Day are good, I also think that it’s a day for people to really pump up their social media presence. Just because there is a designated day to “care” about the Earth, we should be caring about it every day.

  5. This is so interesting, I felt like especially this year Earth Day is becoming more and more of a social phenomenon and less to do with helping our planet. I know in my early schooling we used to actually work on environmental projects in honor of Earth Day, but now all I see are social media posts. I also feel like organizations, people, and even our campus in general can do so much more for this cause as well.

  6. I really enjoy seeing other people analyzing and posing discussions around the environment and the media. I’m an Environment and Society minor so I’m always reflecting on these kinds of phenomenon. I think you’re quite right for questioning the effectiveness of posting on social media about #EarthDay. There are definitely many positives but also negatives. As you’re alluding to, many brands post about Earth Day to boost their brands image, aka greenwashing. I think it is important for people to continue taking part in earth day through social media. However, it is critical that we combine social media awareness campaigns with grassroots actions. Great analysis! Thanks for making me reflect on #EarthDay because I too posted a happy #EarthDay image on my Instagram…

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