A more hopeful Earth Day.

“Oh hi, would you like to listen to a message of hope?” said a soothing voice on the other side of the phone. I had just called in to the Hope Hotline, an Earth Day 2024 initiative offered by the regenerative agriculture non-profit Farmer’s Footprint. And it was welcome shot of positivity that came to define the day. By the looks of my LinkedIn feed, the doomerism of Earth Days gone by had been replaced by a more optimistic, hopeful tone.

It’s great news, because it means more people understand that when it comes to climate conversations, stories that promote hope will also inspire action. There’s even a hint of optimism coming from Al Gore who said recently “we’re gaining momentum and soon we’ll be gaining on the crisis itself.”

In the spirit of spreading more hope, I aggregated some encouragement from this year’s Earth Day.

Every day is Earth Day.

It’s energizing to know that so many of us have evolved past caring for our precious planet just one day of the year. My favorite climate scientist, Katharine Hayhoe, reminded us that “the earth doesn’t need us, we need it.” And like any good scientist, she backed that sentiment up with data: 

• Fully 50% of the oxygen we breathe comes from tiny phytoplankton in the ocean.
• A billion people depend on coral reefs for food and income.
• 11% of the earth’s surface provides all the food we eat.
• 3% of the water on earth is freshwater — and we can’t live without it.

Hope is power.

While the messages of hope and optimism were everywhere, my absolute favorite came from the Hope Hotline where my new hotline friend talked about the momentum of igniting our imaginations through stories of hope (here at Right On we couldn’t agree more). Then she told me about how the country of Aruba is working to enshrine nature into their constitution as a legal way to protect the island’s plants, animals, and people. And how they intend to share their model for other countries to replicate. We chatted some more about our hopes for the future—I hung up smiling and inspired

Collective action required.

Fellow Ethical Agency Alliance member, Josh Garrett, wrote about how our current version of Earth Day has devolved from its original mission of galvanizing institutional change. “Today, small thinking and a focus on individual actions have replaced the urgent need for institutional change that marked the first Earth Day.” Josh’s Earth Day reboot involves putting public pressure on institutions that have the most power to curb climate change with actions like:

• supporting community renewable energy projects
• advocating for “pollluters pay” laws
• creating space for climate conversations

We have the answers.

The passionate, smart creators at Earthrise Studio reminded me that indigenous communities have done so much of the hard work for us. “Although Indigenous communities comprise just 5% of the world population, they protect a massive 80% of the world’s biodiversity. Their sophisticated knowledge of the natural world is also key to protecting our future.” To further this truth, Earthrise collaborated with Brazilian Indigenous leaders to create the Choose Earth campaign to support communities on the front lines of climate change