Blue Marble image of the Earth taken by the crew of Apollo 17 on Dec. 7 1972.
Image Credit: NASA
The opening of the first city centre climate hub in the world takes place in Plymouth this week, to coincide with Earth Day.
Plymouth Climate Hub
** Post Blog Note: Unfortunately, the Community Open Days are unable to run live. Instead there are a going a number of online sessions on the 22nd, 23rd and 27th April.
Following a successful crowd funding campaign last year, the Plymouth Climate Hub will host the first of its online meet-ups on Friday, coinciding with Earth Day. This, together with further events on Saturday 23rd April and Wednesday 27th April, will allow the community to talk to the team behind the Hub, and get engaged, educated and empowered to enable Plymouth to respond to the climate crisis.
The Climate Hub is a legacy of the COP26 summit held in Glasgow last year, and was funded through the ‘Our Planet Your Path’ campaign that raised £76,000 with Pixalytics being one of the contributing supporters. This is a six month pilot, and if successful, will create a permanent home in Plymouth for the Climate Hub. It’s hoped it will also inspire the creation of similar community-led hubs around the country.
The Climate Hub hopes to be a collaborative space for everyone to get involved in responding to the climate crisis and supporting the Plymouth’s Net Zero 2030 ambitions. This will be through organising and hosting events, workshops, exhibitions, talks and people’s assemblies. It will offer evidence-based knowledge and resources to help further understanding of the climate crisis. The Hub will also host a zero waste shop and vegan café.
The founding team include polar explorer Antony Jinman, Martin Holland and a former Pixalytics work placement student, Megan Pearce! Ultimately, the team want the Climate Hub to create opportunities for the community to take meaningful and tangible action to address the climate crisis. This might be from reducing emissions and energy use, transitioning to a circular economy, to creating a sustainable wellbeing economy that creates beautiful spaces to live without destroying the environment.
It’s great that the Climate Hub initiative is based in Plymouth, and we are delighted to be able to support it. We hope this is the start of a new way of approaching the climate crisis, and this will inspire other actions and Hubs in the UK and around the world.
Earth Day
Earth Day 2022 takes place on the 22nd April 2022 and this year has the theme ‘Invest In Our Planet’. It’s hoping to encourage individuals to get governments and businesses to understand that now is the time everyone must act together to preserve and protect the planet.
There are events occurring around the world that anyone can take part in. The website has a list of all the events taking place, and you can find out if there is something occurring close to you. Even if there are no close events, the website has multiple ways you can get involved including:
- 52 Ways to Invest In Our Planet
- Earth Day 2022 Action Toolkit
- The Great Global Cleanup® is a worldwide campaign to remove billions of pieces of rubbish from neighbourhoods, beaches, rivers, lakes, trails, and park
- The Canopy Project to help planet trees
The first Earth Day took place in 1970 in America, when approximately 20 million citizens got involved in rallies to show support for environmental reform. This level of backing was one of the key factors that led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency on the 2nd December later that year, together with the passing of a variety of environmental legislation in America; such as The Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.
Earth Day continued to grow, and in 2009 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 in order 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.
There are horrific things happening on our planet, and it is up to us as individuals tell the political and business leaders that they need to take action. We may only be single individuals but our personal decisions, choices and actions can impact local, national and global ecosystems and we can make a difference. This Friday, we must all stand up and make our voices heard to start to change the way we value the world.
