Blue Marble image of the Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 on Dec. 7 1972.
Image Credit: NASA

Earth Day 2025 takes place next Tuesday, 22^nd April, and this year’s theme is ‘Our Power, Our Planet’ which is inviting everyone to unite behind renewable energy and triple the global generation of clean electricity by 2030.

This is the 55^th Earth Day, as the first one took place in 1970 in America, with rallies to show support for environmental reform took place. Earth Day continued to grow until 2009, when the United Nations passed a resolution designating the 22nd April as International Mother Earth Day. This acknowledged that the Earth and its ecosystems are our home, and to achieve a balance among the economic, social, and environmental needs of present and future generations, it was necessary to promote harmony with nature and the Earth.

Our Power, Our Planet

The focus on renewable energy this year is hoping to move the world along the path towards providing low-cost energy and while we are not there yet, there are great examples of countries following this path; for example:

• Uruguay is generating 98% of its electricity from renewable sources.
• Kenya uses geothermal power for nearly half of its electricity generation.
• Denmark generates over 50% of the country’s electricity from wind turbines.
• In the United States, solar capacity has grown over ten-fold in the last decade and this is forecast to become the country’s 2nd largest source of generating capacity in the next few years.
• China is currently leading the world in both wind and solar, with twice as much capacity under construction as the rest of the world combined in 2024.
• Iceland obtains a full 99.99 percent of its electricity from renewable sources

Get Involved With Earth Day

There are lots of ways to get involved:

• Attend an event – there are lots of events taking place around the globe and on the website, you can find your local events on the map. One local event that caught our attention are lunchtime talks taking place at the University of Plymouth’s Sustainability Hub at 11.45am on Earth Day. It’s free to attend, but you need to register. The event focuses on waterways, rivers and harbours, and will feature:
  • Sarah Fear and Dr Stavros Karamperidis discussing current research on Clean Maritime, including everything from maritime cyber security and marine autonomy, to environmental sciences, the arts and big data.
  • Dr Rupert Goddard talking about Resilient Catchment Communities, a community approach to monitoring river resilience, and nature-based solutions for integrated catchment management.
  • Dr Eva Perrin discussing an innovative Artificial Intelligence-based early warning system for river contamination utilising continuous monitoring data.
• Use the Earth Day Resources on the Earth Hub to learn more about what is happening to the planet – there are some educational resources in the form of quizzes, factsheets and toolkits – from the educational quizzes to learn more about clean energy and renamable technology, to the more fun What Endangered Species Are You? (turns out I’m a Red Panda!)
• Pledge an Earth Action on social media – there are a variety of suggested actions on the website, but you can also make up your own. Post your action or pledge on social media, use #EarthActionDay hashtag if possible, and you can tag Earth Day in using one of their social media channels.
• Sign the Our Power, Our Planet Renewable Energy Petition – This calls for the tripling of renewable energy generation by 2030; cutting greenhouse gas emissions; phasing out fossil fuels; and investing in clean energy infrastructure. The petition will be United Nation’s leadership and delegates at the UNFCCC Conference of Parties 30 (COP 30) in November 2025.

Summary

Supporting renewable energy is not only good for the planet, but it is also forecast to make a key difference to people’s health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and drive economic change as new technology, skills and jobs develop.

On Earth Day 2025, why not get involved and commit to harnessing renewable energy to build a healthy, sustainable, equitable and prosperous future for everyone.

Blue Marble image of the Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 on Dec. 7 1972.
Image Credit: NASA