Earth day is coming up next week on Thursday, April 22nd. I’m subscribed to a few organizations that send out emails and newsletter related to care for creation and climate change so this week I’ve been getting invites to webinars being hosted on Eartb Day. They are all virtual events, talks, panel discussions and more and I invite you to seek out something that finds interesting to tune in to on Earth Day.
I also bring these virtual meetings up because I see this as one advantage the last year has brought – encouraging virtual meetings, especially conferences where folks travel from all over. Of course, there are so many benefits of being in person and meeting people face to face, but it also comes with significant carbon cost. It can be especially incongruent to have a climate change summit in person that brings together people from all around the world and tallies a hefty carbon emissions sum. Beyond just reasons around Covid-19, I’m glad to see the the Earth Day Summit next week with 40 world leaders is virtual.
In addition to reducing carbon emissions from travel, virtual webinars, conferences, etc can also increase the access for people to attend them.
We may all be feeling “zoomed out” with all of our virtual meetings and time spent on computers, but I still encourage you to take advantage of the virtual opportunities on Earth Day 2021.