Volunteers in dozens of countries are set to plant trees, clean up trash and urge governments to do more to combat climate change to mark Earth Day today, as scientists warn of more extreme weather and record temperatures this year.
The run-up to the 54th annual celebration of the environment has included a week of conservation and clean-up activities around the world, and festivals began in Rome and Boston yesterday.
Thousands were expected to gather in London yesterday to begin four days of events known as the “Big One,” organized by advocacy group Extinction Rebellion.
Photo: AFP
A rally was to be staged in Washington urging US President Joe Biden to commit to ending fossil fuel use.
Today, volunteers are scheduled to begin major cleanup campaigns at Dal Lake in India’s Srinagar and Florida’s hurricane-hit Cape Coral.
On Thursday, Biden pledged to increase US funding to help developing countries fight climate change and curb deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest during a meeting with leaders from the world’s largest economies.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told countries attending Biden’s Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change that “a quantum leap in climate action” was required to limit temperature rises to 1.5°C.
“We seem hellbent on destruction,” he said in a prerecorded Earth Day message.
Earth Day this year follows weeks of extreme weather, with temperatures hitting a record 45.4°C in Thailand and another punishing heatwave in India, where at least 13 people died of heatstroke at a ceremony last weekend.
Scientists this week said killer heatwaves were putting “unprecedented burdens” on India’s agriculture, economy and public health, and undermining the country’s long-term efforts to reduce poverty, inequality and illness.
Average global temperatures could hit record highs this year or next year, driven by climate change and the anticipated return of the El Nino weather phenomenon, climate scientists said on Thursday.
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