Shot in the leg during Japan’s advance into Burma in 1942, Japanese soldier Chiyoji Nakagawa lay alone, unconscious in a bell tower, uncertain if he would live to see another day. His entire 

regiment had been wiped out and Nakagawa was alone. Fortunately, against the odds, he survived, and when he returned home to Japan, he made a commitment to himself to spread a newfound belief: No More Wars.

In 1951, Nakagawa, attended the United Nations 6th General Assembly in Paris, as an observer representing the Japanese U.N. Association. Despite Japan not being a UN member state at the time, he proposed constructing a Peace Bell using coins contributed by people from around the world who, like him, wished for peace. The UN agreed to his beautiful idea and in 1952, the United Nations Economic and Social Council officially gave their permission for the Bell to be formally accepted by the UN. 

Nakagawa would go on to receive coins from 65 different nations, including the Soviet Union and the Vatican, with gold coins depicting Jesus and the Virgin Mary donated by Pope Pius XII. The Peace Bell was cast with thousands of coins and this inscription –“Long Live Absolute World Peace” in Japanese completed Nakagawa’s vision. 

Peace Bell in New York City

In 1953, the Peace Bell made its long journey from Japan to the United Nations Headquarters in New York, US. As a poignant symbol of peace, soil from Hiroshima and Nagasaki accompanied the Bell and was later buried beneath its foundation stone. These two cities serve as devastating reminders of the catastrophic potential of nuclear warfare.

The first and only use of nuclear weapons in war killed hundreds of thousands instantly, with many more dying in the aftermath due to the lingering effects of radiation. The bombings also wreaked havoc on the environment, scorching forests, contaminating soil, and poisoning water sources. 

It wasn’t until 1981 that the United Nations General Assembly, under Resolution 36/67, declared a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. In 2001 the UN General Assembly officially established September 21 as the International Day of Peace and each year since, the UN has rung the Nakagawa’s Peace Bell outside its Headquarters, calling for global peace. 

EARTHDAY.ORG, as one of the leaders of the environmental movement, works every day to unite communities,  protect the planet, and create a safe, healthy, and livable future for all. But, we also know that caring for the environment isn’t possible without peace. 

Today, nine countries have nuclear weapons, the United States, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel (although Israel has a policy of ambiguity and has never officially confirmed its nuclear arsenal). Collectively they have over 13,000 nuclear warheads scattered around the globe. But, of course, nuclear weapons are not the only way war devastates the natural world. 

Ecocide is Real

Even without nuclear firepower, the impacts of war on the environment, whether as collateral damage or through intentional targeting, remain severe. This type of warfare on the environment that leads to severe, long-term, and widespread destruction has a name: Ecocide.

History shows us that the intentional targeting of natural resources is a strategy that is far from new. A scorched earth policy refers to completely destroying an enemy’s resources, including water sources, crops, forests, and any other natural resources. This strategy debilitates an enemy’s forces, but also directly affects the civilian population, leading to severe humanitarian crises that can last for generations. Today, we see ecocide unfolding in conflicts around the world.

Officials have documented several thousand cases of environmental destruction in Ukraine. Much of Ukraine’s 10 million hectares of forests has been destroyed in the conflict, causing over $30 billion in damage and wiping out wildlife habitats in the region. These burned forests alone released an estimated 6.75 million tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere. 

In addition, more than 425,000 hectares of forest are contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance, threatening both people, wild animals and ecosystems for decades to come. Even the seas are not spared: increased sonar activity in the Black Sea has been linked to rising numbers of dead dolphins washing ashore.

The destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in 2023 is one of the worst examples of the war’s environmental toll. When the dam was destroyed, it unleashed floods across an area roughly the size of Luxembourg. The torrent contaminated the river with industrial lubricants and heavy metals, threatening human health for years to come. Vast stretches of farmland were destroyed, and thousands of landmines were dislodged and swept downstream – their final locations still unknown. Water is repeatedly used as a weapon of war and as a result Ukraine plans to prosecute Russia for ecocide. 

War Destroys Nature and People 

Fighting to protect the environment also means rejecting war. Which is why this year, for the 2025, International Day of Peace, EARTHDAY.ORG’s partner, Let’s Do It World is hosting World Cleanup Day in Kyiv, Ukraine. There, they are working with partners on the ground not only to clean up waste and pollution but also to call for the end of this destructive war, and support the rebuilding of Ukraine.

As environmentalists we know that true sustainability isn’t possible without peace. Today, in New York, the Peace Bell will be rung. This is a poignant reminder of the devastation that our species is capable of, but also the possibility of peace that we are also capable of creating. EARTHDAY.ORG’s 2025 theme, Our Power, Our Planet reminds us of the power and agency people have at an individual, community, and international level to create the world we want to see. Meaning if we want peace, we have the capability to choose it.

This article is available for republishing on your website, newsletter, magazine, newspaper, or blog. The accompanying imagery is cleared for use with attribution. Please ensure that the author’s name and their affiliation with EARTHDAY.ORG are credited. Kindly inform us if you republish so we can acknowledge, tag, or repost your content. You may notify us via email at davies@earthday.org or fielder@earthday.org. Want more articles? Follow us on substack.

The post Peace and Planet: Every Environmentalist Should Champion Both appeared first on Earth Day.

Today you’ll find me knee-deep in a river, clearing away the plastic bottles and bags caught in the brush. For me, it’s the best way to spend World Cleanup Day. 

Today, September 20th, is World Cleanup Day. Millions of people from all corners of the planet are joining together to clean up their communities, their parks, and their world to create an Earth free from trash and plastic pollution. 

As the lead on The Great Global Cleanup at EARTHDAY.ORG, today is a special and hugely busy time. I do cleanups year round, but there is something special about being a part of a massive movement, happening in every corner of the planet, all on the same day that really makes it feel different. You can almost feel the energy in the air whether you’re at a beach, on a river, or just on your own street, picking up trash. 

Where it Began

The first official World Cleanup Day was black in 2018, and six years later in 2024, it was officially added to the calendar of United Nations International Days. But the origins of this day goes back further and is down to the work of our amazing partner, Let’s Do It World.

It began in Estonia in 2008 when they mobilized 50,000 people to clean up the entire country in a single day, collecting over 10,000 tonnes of trash. Yes you heard that right. That spark ignited a global movement, and by 2018, it had grown into a worldwide call to action.

Cleanups aren’t a new solution. As far back as the first Earth Day in 1970, community cleanups were part of the environmental movement. But many of these early efforts were led by organizations, ironically backed by the actual plastic producers, who cleverly shifted the blame for their plastic pollution onto consumers. Back then it was framed as if only people would stop dropping trash there would be no issue – when we all know the real issue is that plastic is being over produced. Often unnecessarily, as in the case of anything made of single use plastics. 

The plastic industry fed us lies about  recycling campaigns, which as we now know, are not the solution. By making consumers believe they were responsible for plastic pollution, they  wouldn’t apply pressure onto the plastic producers to fix the problem. The problem is that the sheer amount of plastic produced – over 400 million tonnes every year and rising – makes the job of cleaning it up virtually impossible.

Cleanups – We Can’t Do it Alone!

Around the world, I’ve spoken with many cleanup organizers and they all run into a similar problem. They pick a site and make it spotless, but fast forward a month, a week, or even a day, and trash begins to return. 

This doesn’t mean that cleanups don’t work – they do. The trash needs to be removed from the environment, and we know that cleanups can prevent up to 99% of the microplastics that would otherwise break down into waterways reaching our rivers and oceans. 

We also know from behavioral science that if just 5% of a population adopts an action, it can spread across the entire community. This is why Let’s Do It World has chosen the theme Strive For Five  this year. 

It’s Not Just Pollution  – It’s Our Health Too

Microplastics have taken over our world: we are breathing them, drinking them, eating them in our food and now they are inside our homes, our body’s, our children, and even our hearts. Their chemicals are known endocrine disruptors with links to cancer, strokes, infertility, miscarriages, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and developmental issues. 

That’s why EARTHDAY.ORG and Let’s Do It World are calling for a 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040, and a strong Global Plastics Treaty. 

Where We Are Now

Today, the global cleanup movement is a force to be reckoned with. Organizers are no longer satisfied with single-day events. The simple act of removing trash is being linked to broader fights against plastic pollution and campaigns for environmental justice.

Take, for example, EARTHDAY.ORG’s partners in the Underserved Community Cleanup Campaign. They use cleanup events not only to protect their neighborhoods from pollution but also to bring vital resources, attention, and pride back to overlooked areas. 

In Detroit, we are working with our partner, Detroit Hives, Michigan, as they clean up abandoned lots, and turning them into Bee Farms; in Raleigh, North Carolina, The Great Raleigh Cleanup is working with people experiencing homelessness and giving them paid opportunities to cleanup their own community; in Miami, Florida, Debris Free Oceans is tackling the illegal dumping issues in neighborhoods like Calle Ocho. 

Luckily it’s a very easy movement to join, you just need to go outside and pick up trash and at EARTHDAY.ORG we’ve tried to make it even easier than that. Check out our Global Cleanup Map to find a cleanup near you, or use our toolkit to learn how to create your own. Grab friends, family, or coworkers, choose a site, and help us create a waste-free world. 

As for my plans for this year’s World Clean Up Day, I’ll be picking up trash with my friends on a river bank, probably covered in mud, but leaving behind a much cleaner space. I hope to see you out there maybe. But whatever you do, do something positive to help the planet and your community this World Clean Up Day! Thank you. 

The post World Cleanup Day: A Day Dedicated to a Waste-Free World appeared first on Earth Day.

After hours of a grueling hike on the side of a snowcapped mountain, I had finally made it to the Hidden Lake Lookout at the Edge of the North Cascades National Park in Washington. The peak we found ourselves at was surrounded by an endless view of mountains as far as the eye could see. For someone living in the swamps of Florida, where the highest mountains are literally the trash dumps, the view was overwhelmingly beautiful.

The view of the hidden lake from the summit was incredible. The deep blue water was motionless at the bottom of the valley, framed by rocks, ice, and scattered evergreen trees. Deep in the national park, this stunning lake looked untouched and pristine from the pollution and chaos of the rest of the world. 

But even this far away from civilization, I saw what I never seem able to escape: plastic. Specifically, a plastic sandwich clamshell.

I’m sure it was left behind by a hiker who was not ill-meaning, but unfortunately, with the amount of plastic we use and are inundated with everyday in our lives, it’s almost impossible not to even accidentally leave behind plastic bread crumbs wherever we go, no matter how far away. 

Hiking in the Cascades and with World Cleanup Day  just around the corner on September 20th, I can’t help but think about the natural wonders we have in the United States. Our national parks are the true jewels of our nation, and something we should not only be proud of, but something we should be actively protecting. I’ve traveled around the world doing cleanup work and picking up trash wherever I go, but I can’t help but be captivated by the sheer beauty that the United States offers. As an environmentalist, I feel the need to act to protect these special places whenever I can.

In my opinion, our national parks, of which there are 63, are perhaps the best idea we’ve ever had.

The very first national park ever created in the world was Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park in 1879, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. This special place was designated “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.” Since the inception of Yellowstone, globally, more than 100 other nations have set aside land for over 1,200 national parks, inspired by the U.S. model. 

Theodore Roosevelt: The Godfather of National Parks

Theodore Roosevelt, known as the ‘conservationist president’, doubled the number of national parks in the United States, adding 230 million acres of protected land, and left a legacy with the Antiquities Act of 1906. This gave presidents the authority to protect landmarks and landscapes without waiting for Congress. 

Roosevelt protected vast swaths of land not only for public enjoyment and use, but also for wildlife, biodiversity and for the nation’s environmental health. 

Roosevelt’s legacy is celebrated by many of us today, but during his time, he was heavily criticized and his efforts were often met with ardent opposition – largely from political opponents, and industry and business leaders, who saw his reach to protect millions of acres of land, as being in direct opposition to economic growth through the expansion of logging, mining, and ranching. 

But Roosevelt spent time in nature, throughout the U.S., and he inherently understood the importance of protecting some of our nation’s forests and wild places. As Roosevelt expressed in 1908, the rights of the public to enjoy and access these natural resources outweighed everything else and therefore had to be given first consideration. 

His visionary approach is perhaps best showcased in his journal, written during his first visit to the Badlands of South Dakota: “We have become great because of the lavish use of our resources. But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, and the gas are exhausted, when the soils have still further impoverished and washed into the streams, polluting the rivers, denuding the fields and obstructing navigation.” 

It’s impossible not to assume that Roosevelt would have been shocked at how quickly our leaders have forgotten this sentiment and now seem to regard the wilderness of our nation as merely a vast commodity.  

Deforestation has swept across the United States, while our rivers are choked with pollutants and fertilizers — most notably the Mississippi, which has created a yearly “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico that suffocates the fish living there. On top of that, the world produces more than 400 million tonnes of plastic every year, half of it designed for single use, much of which ends up littering our streets, oceans, rivers, beaches, and green spaces.

The Threat to our National Parks

Today, we face a similar fight to protect the legacy of the conservationists who travelled before us. Microplastics have invaded every corner of our Earth, from our national parks to our bloodstream; they are inside our children, our food, our homes, and even our hearts. Their chemicals are known endocrine disruptors with links to cancer, strokes, infertility, miscarriages, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and developmental issues. 

Plastic isn’t the only threat to our nation’s natural beauty. Today, the current administration has cut funding to the National Park Service, leading to a significant drop in the number of rangers employed to maintain the parks as well as limiting visitor capacity. At the same time, proposals to weaken the EPA’s Endangerment Finding would gut the EPA’s own ability to regulate greenhouse gases. Endangering not only the park, but the health of every American, while at the same time driving climate change. 

With World Cleanup Day here, we must continue to protect these incredible parks. Joining a cleanup is an easy way to prevent waste and plastic pollution from harming the environment and your own community. If plastic waste especially is not removed, it will eventually end up in the oceans, forests and waterways that most of us love. Check out the Global Cleanup Map to find a cleanup happening near you, or create your own, not just for September 20th, but all year round. 

Perhaps more importantly, get outside and visit a national park. Only then will you fully understand why Roosevelt fought so hard to create them, and why we must too. While you’re there, pick up any plastic you happen to see lying on the ground please! 

Protecting our national parks is the responsibility of every American. Not just for our own health and well-being, but for all future generations who deserve to see, experience and enjoy this amazing country as Roosevelt did. 

This article is available for republishing on your website, newsletter, magazine, newspaper, or blog. The accompanying imagery is NOT cleared for use . Please ensure that the author’s name and their affiliation with EARTHDAY.ORG are credited. Kindly inform us if you republish so we can acknowledge, tag, or repost your content. You may notify us via email at davies@earthday.org or fielder@earthday.org. Want more articles? Follow us on substack.

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MICHAEL KARAPETIAN

The sun dipped behind the horizon and the sky exploded into reds, blues, pinks, and an orange hue that seems to engulf everything. I’m convinced experiencing the sunset on a beach is the best way to do it. 

Still, even in this natural beauty, walking back up from the shoreline I stop to pick up a plastic wrapper, a plastic bottle cap, and some plastic film that was on its way into the ocean, into a fish, and eventually back into me – before, of course, I rudely interrupted their journey and threw them into the trash.

Having led The Great Global Cleanup for the past three years, the overwhelming beauty of a beach juxtaposed with the blight of plastic is nothing new, but it’s always annoying to see. Plastic seems to find its way into the sand one way or another – either left behind by beach goers, or worse, washing ashore from the currents. 

August 30th is National Beach Day in the US, a reminder that while our beaches are beautiful, they also need care to stay that way. At EARTHDAY.ORG, cleanups are part of our DNA. Over the years, The Great Global Cleanup has joined communities across the world to protect these coastlines. Here are a few of our favorite beach cleanups. 

Mumbai, India

For World Cleanup Day 2024, our Earth Day Network India team partnered with the Indian Coast Guard to take on one of Mumbai’s busiest beaches. Over 1,500 volunteers turned out, joined by helicopters flying overhead to document the action. 

Scuba divers collected debris drifting just offshore, while volunteers combed the water and the sand for plastic floating and buried. The end of the cleanup was met with speeches, games, and other celebrations on the sand. 

Volunteers standing next to massive pile of collected waste, using heavy machinery to in cleanup, and plunging into the ocean searching for trash

Bottom/center: EARTHDAY.ORG’s Debrapriya Dutt speaking to the crown

Volunteers

Yerevan, Armenia

The shore of Yerevan Lake may not be a traditional beach, but it quickly became one of our favorite cleanup sites. For Earth Day 2024, we partnered with Maqoor, a youth-led environmental organization based in Yerevan, Armenia, to restore several spots across the country, including the beach at Yerevan Lake. The shore was covered in plastic, but the young student volunteers went straight to work fishing plastic and other waste out of the waters. 

In just a few hours, we collected over 750 pounds of trash. The lake had become a collection place for plastic that flowed down the Hrazdan River. It showcased first hand how important it is to tackle plastic pollution at its source to prevent waste accumulating in spots like this. 

Volunteers Pulling Trash out of the Yerevan Lake, Michael Karapetian holding a snail with plastic attached to it, and Student Volunteers sorting waste picked up

Charleston, South Carolina

Every year Make It Cute, a company founded by the actress Amanda Seyfried and her friends, hosts a cleanup on the shores of Isle of Palms, a beautiful coastal beach just outside Charleston. Amanda Seyfried and Bravo’s star of Southern Charm, Craig Conover, hosted the event, and after volunteers arrived, consisting of locals, families, and a large group of kids, the event kicked off. 

The kids grabbed bags with enthusiasm and made their way toward the pier, picking up every single piece of trash, plastic, and even cigarette butts along the way. Throughout the cleanup Amanda would stop beachgoers and ask if they had any trash they wanted to discard.

The best thing about a beach cleanup, is that once you’re done you can go for a swim. After the cleanup was finished the volunteers didn’t hesitate to do just that! 

Photo 1: Kids holding the trash grabbers walking towards the ocean

Photo 2: (From Left to Right) Amanda Seyfried, Michael Karapetian, Anne Hoehn, Maureen North, holding an EARTHDAY.ORG and Great Global Cleanup Banner

Photo 3: Maureen North and her son picking up trash

Photo 4: Amanda Seyfried and Greg Conover next to a Make It Cute Playhouse

Photo 5: Volunteer and his dog picking up trash on the beach

Photo 6: Amanda Seyfried holding up a bag of trash she collected

Penang Island, Malaysia

EARTHDAY.ORG partnered with The Malaysia Humanitarian Foundation on the beautiful island of Penang to host a beach cleanup, a massive tree planting, and to join the 2024 Asian Environmental Summit. 

Penang Island, a tropical paradise off the coast of Malaysia, is a tourist hub. Volunteers took charge of the coastline and removed over 1,800 pounds of trash and plastic pollution. 

Along with the cleanup, over 1.2 million trees were planted across the island  – all 30 varieties planted were indigenous species to Penang Island.fff

Photo 1: Volunteers Picking Up Trash on Penang Island 

Photo 2: Volunteer smiling next to several large bags of trash

Photo 3: Volunteers walking through the woods laughing and holding the trash they collected

Santa Monica, California

The Santa Monica Pier is an iconic staple on the Californian coastline. EARTHDAY.ORG has partnered with Heal The Bay on a few of their monthly Nothin’ But Sand Cleanups over the years. Thousands of volunteers regularly join these beach cleanups scaling across the coast line picking up trash that had almost made its way into the ocean. 

Scuba Divers regularly take to the pier where they find trash that had fallen off, which often includes styrofoam cups, misfortunate cell phones, and even computers. 

In April 2025, the Nothin’ But Sand Beach Cleanup brought together more than 900 volunteers to tackle pollution along the Santa Monica coastline. This event combined community action, environmental education, and celebration. Volunteers joined forces to remove 274 pounds of trash from the beach, helping to protect marine life and improve the health of California’s iconic shoreline. 

Photo 1: Merle Liivang (Left), the Estonian Mermaid, and Michael Karapetian (Right) on the beach in Santa Monica

Photo 2: Trash Pulled out of the ocean from Scuba Divers

Photo 3: Volunteers holding Great Global Cleanup Banner

Photo 4: Students checking in cleanup volunteers

National Beach Day is here, and you can join the fight for a cleaner coast. Join The Great Global Cleanup, check out the Global Cleanup Map and find an event near you. 

It’s not just beaches that need our help, the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to fight climate change is under attack from within and needs your support too. Make your voice heard by telling the EPA to protect our air. And, the next time you’re at the beach, make sure to pick up a few pieces of trash while you’re there. 

If you want to check out some of our other amazing events, see our underserved community cleanups here. 

The post We Deserve Clean Beaches appeared first on Earth Day.

At EARTHDAY.ORG, we have been fighting plastic waste to protect the environment and our health. But today, July 30, on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, it’s worth recognizing another reason to fight: limiting the plastic and trash that ends up in landfills could also limit the exploitation of children and families around the world.

Here’s why: nearly 50 million people are trapped in modern-day slavery, and plastic pollution is helping fuel it. Trafficking occurs when a person is forced, or coerced into performing labor of any sort against their will. 

In the global waste management system, there are countless work-force gaps filled by informal labor and in these unregulated spaces there are countless opportunities for traffickers to exploit vulnerable men, women, and children.The global waste trade creates a shadow economy, one that’s poorly regulated, easily exploited, and often run by informal or criminal networks. It’s within these vulnerable aftermarkets that trafficking and exploitation thrive.

What Happens to Our Waste?

When we throw plastic away, we often assume it’s either recycled or responsibly landfilled. But in reality, much of our plastic waste, especially from countries in the Global North, is shipped overseas, often to poorer nations in the Global South. These countries lack the infrastructure to manage this waste safely, and it often ends up in landfills,  open dumps, rivers, or illegal recycling operations

Waste picking is a large part of this economy – it’s when people, many of them children, pick through open dumps looking for materials that can be sold to recyclers. These pickers are subjected to extremely dangerous working conditions, including cuts and abrasions from used needles and glass, exposure to toxic chemicals, and disease from rotting foods, among many other things. 

Children and migrants who scavenge waste from dumpsites are doing some of the dirtiest and more dangerous work on the planet, often with no protections, no education, and no way out. 

This is the perfect setup for traffickers. 

These children often live on the fringes of society, meaning they are not in school, living without birth certificates or legal identities and are often socially marginalized because of this. The conditions at these dumpsites in which they live are often overrun with gangs, alcohol, and drug abuse.

While not every case of child waste picking qualifies as trafficking under international law, the conditions these children face such as extreme poverty, lack of protection, and constant exposure to predatory actors make them exceptionally vulnerable to trafficking and other forms of exploitation.

In some cases, families compel children to work in dangerous dumpsites not out of malice, but out of desperation. While this may not legally constitute trafficking, it still places children at enormous risk, particularly when third parties begin to profit off their labor or exploit their isolation. ​​For example, media investigations and international reports have documented that Syrian refugee children in Turkey, unable to attend school due to age restrictions or language barriers, often survive by picking through litter and waste at landfill sites. These informal labor conditions are hazardous and leave children vulnerable to exploitation, abuse, and in some cases, trafficking.

Informal waste economies often exist on a spectrum. This ranges from survival labor to outright trafficking. Children may begin picking trash to help their families, but over time, third-party control, debt, abuse, or sexual coercion can escalate their situation. Some may argue that because these children are earning money for their family through sorting through waste that they are actually benefiting from the plastic pollution.

Let’s be clear: They are not. These children are better off in schools. Children forced into waste picking miss out on education, suffer long-term health damage, and face a lifetime of marginalization. 

So today, on World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, what can we do? This August, world leaders will meet for the sixth round of negotiations on a legally binding global plastics treaty, known as INC-5.2, which will take place in Switzerland. We can use this moment to urge our governments to support a strong treaty that addresses plastic pollution at its source and limits plastic production. You can make your voice heard by signing our petition here.

EARTHDAY.ORG has been calling for a 60% reduction in plastic production by 2040. This is entirely achievable given that a massive volume of the plastic produced is designed for single use and immediate disposal. 

By limiting our production of plastic, and the waste it eventually creates, we can help to dismantle the conditions that lead to trafficking and exploitation. The fight against plastic pollution isn’t just a fight for the environment, or for our health, but for the most vulnerable on our planet – our children.  

This article is available for republishing on your website, newsletter, magazine, newspaper, or blog. The accompanying imagery is also cleared for use. Please ensure that the author’s name and their affiliation with EARTHDAY.ORG are credited. Kindly inform us if you republish so we can acknowledge, tag, or repost your content. You may notify us via email at davies@earthday.org or fielder@earthday.org. Want more articles? Follow us on substack.

The post Is Plastic Fueling Modern Day Slavery? appeared first on Earth Day.

Michael Karapetian

Mapping the Environmental Movement: My Week at the Esri User Conference

Hic Sunt Dracones – Here be dragons. Once used on old maps to mark dangerous or unknown territories, this phrase was shown during a presentation at the Esri User Conference, the largest Geographic Information Systems(GIS) conference in the world, and it stuck with me.

Steve Jewett and I were here to present EARTHDAY.ORG’s mapping systems that showcase environmental events happening all around the world. This phrase stuck with me because not long ago, much of the environmental movement remained invisible and uncharted. No one was tracking actions globally. But through our systems at EARTHDAY.ORG, we’ve begun to change that; we now have over 40,000 events captured around the world, with the goal of tracking every action and showcasing how powerful this movement really is.

We were ready to share what we’ve built, and to learn a lot from this amazing community.

The post Mapping the Environmental Movement: My Week at the Esri User Conference appeared first on Earth Day.

World Environment Day is here, marked every June 5th, and once again, the global theme is Beat Plastic Pollution. At EARTHDAY.ORG, this fight is nothing new—our 2024 Earth Day theme was Planet vs. Plastics, but we’ve been confronting this issue head-on for years. Today offers another chance for all of us to pause, take stock, and explore how we can all be part of the solution.

Plastic, microplastics, and toxic plastic chemicals have dominated environmental and health conversations in recent years—and for good reason. As we highlighted in our 2023 report, Babies Vs Plastics, and repeated time and again in 2024, the health impacts of plastic pollution are devastating and all too real. The chemicals used in plastic production are increasingly linked to cancer, developmental disorders, fertility problems, and even dementia. Every day, it seems, new research emerges about plastic’s effects on our bodies such as lower sperm counts, malformed genitals, and even childhood obesity. 

Each year, more than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally. Shockingly, half of that is single-use plastic, destined to pollute the planet—often without ever reaching a landfill. As someone who literally picks up trash for a living, I can tell you firsthand: most of what ends up on our streets, beaches, and green spaces is single-use plastics that never stood a chance of getting recycled. 

Recycling doesn’t work—it’s often contaminated, and even when it’s successful, plastic can only be recycled once or twice before degrading. Worse still, the recycling process itself releases massive amounts of microplastics, both from the recycling plants and the recycled plastic material they produce. 

The next option is landfilling, where it will either pile up almost indefinitely or get shipped to another country, where it will also just pile up indefinitely. And worst of all, the plastic might be incinerated—polluting the air and harming our lungs in the process.

Beating plastic pollution is a herculean task—but it’s absolutely essential. The theme for this year’s World Environment Day was set by the UNEP back in 2023, with the expectation that the Global Plastics Treaty would be finalized and signed by now. The final negotiations were meant to happen in Busan, South Korea, but after negotiators failed to reach a consensus on key issues, a sixth negotiation, called INC5.2, was scheduled for later this year in Switzerland.

Several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, and China, have pushed back against limits on plastic production and restrictions on harmful chemicals, slowing any meaningful progress. But the stakes are too high for delay. When negotiators meet again in August, they must deliver a strong, legally binding agreement that protects both people and the planet—or risk another failed environmental treaty.

Let’s be honest: international negotiations are faltering, and governments continue to walk back crucial environmental promises. So, on this World Environment Day, how are we, as individuals and communities, supposed to take action against plastic pollution, climate change, and the other crises threatening our planet and our health?

What Can We Actively Do?

Luckily, EARTHDAY.ORG has an answer. 

Our theme for 2025 is Our Power, Our Planet, where we focus on the power that individuals and communities have to shape the world they want to see. The responsibility of fighting for clean air, clean water, and a livable future has once again landed on everyday people, just as it did 55 years ago when 20 million Americans marched across the country during the very first Earth Day. That worked exceptionally well. It led to the creation of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and launched the modern environmental movement as we know it today. 

A lesson we relearn every year is this: we, as individuals, communities, cities, and a global movement, have the agency to create lasting change. Our power doesn’t depend on political will at the international or national levels. And that power is more important now than ever. 

Here is what you can do to get involved in this World Environment Day to Beat Plastic Pollution. 

Firstly, Join The Great Global Cleanup. The Great Global Cleanup is our flagship campaign, mobilizing people around the world to remove trash and plastic pollution from their communities and work toward a waste-free world. This year, we had over 4,000 cleanups happening worldwide, removing over 7 million pounds of plastic and trash from the environment. Click here to learn how to organize a cleanup in your community, and explore our Underserved Community Cleanups to see how cleanups can drive lasting environmental and social impact.

Secondly, tell leaders what you think: Click Here to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, or Sign the Global Plastics Petition, calling on a highly ambitious Treaty. 

Thirdly, share the truth about plastics – with local leaders, neighbors, friends, or family.  Here are some helpful resources to get you started: Read our Babies vs Plastics Report to learn more about the health impacts of plastic and its impact on our little ones. 

See our Pets vs Plastics Report to find out more about plastic and its impact on our best friends.  Learn more about the Health Impacts of Plastic Pollution with our fact sheets. Check out our End Plastics Campaign and discover more ways to get involved. 

World Environment Day may only come once a year, but the fight it represents is ongoing. This is a fight for our health, our planet, and our future. We can’t afford to wait for treaties. The responsibility—and the opportunity—to act is already ours.

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Michael Karapetian

A Different Kind of Earth Day:
Lessons from the Ground Up In Miami and Raleigh

The post A Different Kind of Earth Day – Lessons from the Ground Up In Miami and Raleigh appeared first on Earth Day.

Michael Karapetitan, Manager GREAT GLOBAL CLEANUP

A Rewarding Cleanup Topped Off with an Actual Award

Michael hard at work in the Sargassum on the Hollywood Florida Beach

Pal Martensson (Zero Waste International Alliance), Teresa Bradley (Race to Zero Waste) and Michael Karapetian holding The Great Global Cleanup banner

Microplastic samples being showcased by Samantha Romanick, PhD.

Pal Martensson and Rodrigo Sabatini (Instituto Lixo Zero Brasil) lead the way enjoying curry!

Michael Karapetian and the first day of the zero waste forum

Group photo outside of the Anne Kolb Nature Center

Michael Karapetian opening up the conference as Keynote Speaker

Amanda DiPerna and Michael receiving 2025 Emerging Leader Awards

The 2025 Emerging Leader Award Bamboo Plaque

Teresa Bradley, organizer of the Forum and founder of Race to Zero Waste, and Michael posing together after the TRUE Zero Waste Conference with the Bamboo 2025 Emerging Leader Award.

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The recent Executive Order promoting plastic straws while undoing the former administration’s plan to phase them out of federal buildings by 2027 may seem insignificant in the face of global challenges like peace in the Middle East or the war in Ukraine. But the plastic issue is far from trivial.

Why? Well because plastic pollution isn’t just about straws up turtles’ noses. It is about so much more.  It’s about the trillions of microplastics that have now contaminated our water, our food chain, the air, soil, oceans  and even our own bodies. Plastic particles have been found in human brains, lungs, even placentas. 

There is growing research that links these microparticles and the toxic chemicals that leach from them, like BPAs and phthalates,  with cancer, heart attacks and strokes and dementia. Perhaps most worrying of all studies are even finding associations with miscarriage, which for a self-declared Pro-Life President should be a serious  cause for concern in its own right. Our own report, Babies Vs. Plastics, highlighted the elevated risk plastics pose to the health of infants.

The truth is that there is more plastic now than there has ever been, and production is increasing globally. In 2021, over 390 million tons of plastic were produced with a market value of $593 billion US dollars.  50% of all this plastic, like plastic straws, is single-use and will be used for less than a few minutes and tossed away as trash. 

Even more shocking is the massive financial drain plastic waste imposes on U.S. taxpayers every year. In 2019 alone, the U.S. economy lost at least $7.2 billion due to landfilled plastic waste, according to the Department of Energy. Let’s hope Elon Musk’s DOGE tackles that utter waste of money and backs our call to cap plastic production and make polluters pay.

The best-case scenario for plastic trash, and it’s not a good one, is it ends up in a landfill and degrades into million more microplastic particles that poison our soil, air and over time gradually leach into the water table, and impact not just wildlife but all of us too. Especially poorer communities that often live near landfill sites.

The worst-case scenario is that all this single use plastic ends up desecrating our forests, fields, rivers, oceans and communities. I should know because as someone whose life is dedicated to fighting plastic pollution as the Coordinator of the Great Global Cleanup, for EARTHDAY.ORG the organization behind Earth Day itself, I’m the unashamed king of trash.

I spend my life leading an army of volunteers, picking it up wherever we can. It’s dirty, exhausting, and sometimes dangerous, and for a long time, I believed it was the most effective way to fight plastic pollution.  I was wrong.

Over the past three years, I’ve rallied communities worldwide to pick up plastic trash. I’ve raked through Armenia’s Yerevanyan lake to fish for plastic Jermuk bottles; I tripped into a river full of fecal matter in Gainesville just to retrieve a single Styrofoam cup and I’ve cleaned beaches up and down the East Coast. Once with the cast of the Bravo series Southern Charm and the Hollywood actress Amanda Seyfried helping me. 

After years in this work, you start to notice what has now become blindingly obvious — the same beaches, rivers, lakes and the same parks, forests, and communities are all being polluted repeatedly with plastic waste. We are bailing out a tsunami of plastic, but the tide keeps washing more over us.

This is why in 2024 EARTHDAY.ORG launched, Planet vs. Plastics, to expose the human health impacts of plastic pollution because  it is clear that picking up the trash isn’t the only problem – it’s what the trash is made of – a toxic mix of oil and chemicals like PFAS, BPA, and phthalates. 

Predictably, the US has failed to deliver in managing our plastic pollution and human health crisis. Having led the world into believing that we would sign the United Nations Global Plastic Treaty in Busan in November 2024, the new heads at the US State Department have now quietly walked back on that promise. Not only will we NOT be joining the rest of the world in trying to manage our epic global plastic waste problem, but we also reneged on our position to support measures to cap plastic production globally. 

We must commit to reducing plastic production by 60% by 2040 to protect our health, the environment, and future generations. Returning to plastic straws is not just a nostalgic mistake—it’s a dangerous step back for the well-being of our planet and its people. Plastic sucks.

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