Earth Day shows collectively the world can stop using fossil fuels to save the planet from the climate crisis
April 22,2024
By Ramona Cornell du Houx
Earth Day is an annual marker of the progress humanity has made as stewards of our planet. It’s a celebration of the work accomplished and the work that must happen to protect the earth we all love, now and for future generations. This Earth Day the world is looking at how pollution from the plastic industry is endangering our efforts to control the climate crisis.
Too many people don’t connect production of plastic with the oil, gas and coal industries, yet it is made from greenhouse gas-intensive fossil fuels. Coal, oil or gas must first be mined or extracted, and then those materials must be refined and processed in another emissions-heavy procedure. In some cases, formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals must also be produced, creating more pollution. As much as 70 percent of the fossil fuel used in plastic creation comes from the raw materials used in production, meaning oil, gas and coal.
“Fossil fuel use has to be phased out in all its manifestations if the world is going to be successful in holding back the increase of extreme weather and meet the goals of the Paris Accord on Climate. On this Earth Day we have to dedicate ourselves to ridding the world of plastic containers as we transition to alternative energy sources,” said New Mexico State Representative Debbie Sariñana, EOPA State Director, Air Force Veteran, former school teacher. “Technology has been misused and abused to manufacture too much plastic at the expense of our planet and people. There are alternatives to plastic containers that are biodegradable. Now we must use technology to get us out of the mess the fossil fuel industry has thrust upon us as we build a clean energy economy.”
The plastic industry is on an exponential growth trajectory, with production expected to double or even triple by 2050, according to an April Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory analysis. The consequences of the fossil fuel industry’s unfettered carbon emissions will continue to reach everyone on the planet if we don’t phase them out completely.
The inaugural 1970 Earth Day, organized and inspired by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, brought together Republicans and Democrats, 20 million strong, to stand united for the environment. Soon, it spread out from college campuses with multiple organizations and citizens from all backgrounds taking part, and has become a worldwide day of action.
“Sen. Nelson galvanized the environmental movement into action here and abroad. America is known for leading efforts that change the world. President Reagan did when he focused the world on uniting to ban CFCs. President Biden is by showing the way to a clean energy economy with the largest investment in clean energy solutions with the Inflation Reduction Act. The world can unite to stop the exponential growth of the plastic industry, which are branches of the fossil fuel industry,” said Dominic Frongillo, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Elected Officials to Protect America, former Council Member and Deputy Supervisor of Caroline, New York. “Last year, the top oil and gas companies made $200 billion in profits, and oil and gas CEOs are still cashing in on these gains with stock buyback programs. Last year, the world was the hottest on record while humanity experienced weather extremes on a colossal level, mainly because of the fossil fuel greenhouse gas emissions. Collectively the world can stop using fossil fuels and transition to clean energy. We must.”
According to a Harvard study, nine million people die annually worldwide from breathing in the toxic particulates that fossil fuel companies produce. In an age where autocrats have grown wealthy off of oil and gas, the IPCC report found that nations are not doing enough to mitigate the climate emergency.
Elected Officials to Protect America, EOPA, an organization of thousands of elected officials, honors Sen. Nelson on Earth Day every year. He proved that environmental legislative proposals with the backing of a wide coalition of engaged citizens can become laws with more frequency than working in a silo. This principle governs our programs at EOPA. Sen. Nelson helped President Kennedy undertake a national tour for conservation and the environment. With President Johnson, he advanced Civil Rights legislation and waged the War on Poverty. Sen. Nelson saw these battles as part and parcel of his environmental agenda.
“Sen. Nelson understood that the only way we’ll succeed in securing environmental justice is when we achieve voting rights justice. He knew that economic prosperity and environmental protection can and should go hand in hand. He believed that united there’s nothing America cannot achieve. EOPA is humbled and guided by his environmental leadership,” said Alex Cornell du Houx, former Maine state Representative, Marine combat veteran, and President of Elected Officials to Protect America and Co-Founder. “Like Sen. Nelson, President Biden sees the urgency of protecting our planet for all of humanity. His Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides the largest investment, almost $370 billion, in American history to combat the climate crisis. Forty percent of these funds are destined to help environmental justice communities with Biden’s Justice40 initiative. The IRA takes concrete actions to mitigate against the climate crisis, advances environmental justice and paves the way for good-paying, union jobs.”
The report found that plastic creation generated 2.24 gigatonnes of planet-heating pollution in 2019, or as much as 600 coal-fired power plants, or 20.5 percent of the world’s oil and gas demand.
“With the Justice40 Initiative communities that had few positive expectations for their future have been given back hope with tangible programs and avenues to progress. The IRA is infusing investments where needed bringing justice as developments begin,” said Christion Brock, CEO Elected Officials to Protect America, Air Force Veteran. “Now, we must look at the effects of the fossil fuel industry’s plastic operations. Every coast, every river is laced with micro plastics that we ingest. Our water supplies have it in their systems. We have to stop using it for our health and wellbeing. Like all the fossil fuel industries, they’ve set up shop in environmental justice areas where residents have little say over the consequences to their health and suffer disproportionately from the illnesses associated from the production of plastic. In the spirit of Sen. Nelson we must take action at all levels of government.”
The University of Newcastle study found that the average person consumes around 2,000 tiny pieces of plastic each week, which equates to the weight of the average credit card. Petrochemicals, the building block of plastic, poison frontline communities that neighbor production facilities with cancer-causing pollution.
Nelson’s Earth Day led to the founding of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and catapulted an “Environmental Decade” of legislative reforms. The Clean Water Act, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Federal Pesticides Act, the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Education Act, the National Hiking Trails and the National Scenic Trails Acts, and the establishment of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. These laws have saved millions of people from disease and death while protecting countless wild species from extinction.
“Because of President Biden’s 30-gigawatt goal of offshore wind energy by 2030 the industry has been given the boost it needed to gain the confidence that America is serious in building out this industry here. It will create hundreds of thousands of good paying union jobs. In New Jersey it’s started, and we’re excited to see locals start their training so they can work on the Atlantic Shore offshore wind development,” said Caren Fitzpatrick, former Atlantic County Commissioner, NJ, EOPA New Jersey Leadership Council. “My Atlantic City floods all the time from the rising seas. Children miss school regularly because they can’t leave their home if it’s surrounded by water. We have to act now to mitigate the climate crisis. We have to stop using fossil fuels, and the way to do that is to responsibly build out offshore wind. With offshore wind and other alternative clean energy sources we can mitigate the climate crisis. For Earth Day and future ones, we must.”
Recently, under the Biden Administration, the EPA set the strongest-ever pollution standards for cars and trucks, which will reduce carbon emissions by more than 7 billion tons. They launched the American Climate Corps, which will put more than 20,000 young Americans to work restoring our lands and waters, deploying clean energy technologies, and helping communities prepare for and rebuild from extreme weather. The Bureau of Land Management has strengthened conservation efforts to ensure any developments on public lands take conservation preservation into account. This is predicted to increase clean energy on public lands.
“The climate crisis is the existential crisis of our time. As the State Department has said it is a threat multiplier. The domino effect of extreme weather leading to conflict can be seen across the globe. We have to reverse this trend. The only way is for the world to act in solidarity to stop using fossil fuels and accelerate our transition to clean energy. We have the solutions, now we must collectively act,” said Oregon State Representative Paul Evans, Air Force Veteran, Elected Officials to Protect America Leadership Council Co-chair. “We’re witnessing America’s historic Inflation Reduction Act investments across the clean energy economy create good jobs, apprenticeships, and training opportunities for thousands of workers — from manufacturers and electricians to construction workers, linemen, solar panel installers, wind turbines technicians, and more. This is a Clean Energy Revolution that will be greater than the Industrial Revolution because it is sustainable.”
A Pew Research Center survey of 10,237 U.S. adults conducted from Jan. 24 to 30, 2022, found that 69 percent of U.S. adults prioritize developing alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar, over expanding the production of oil, coal and natural gas.
Some progress since the Inflation Reduction Act became law:
- The Inflation Reduction Act stimulated an unprecedented slate of planned domestic clean energy manufacturing facilities. According to American Clean Power, 113 manufacturing facilities or expansions have been announced since August 2022, totaling $421 billion of investment in domestic, utility-scale clean energy production, as of early 2024.
- A record 31 gigawatts (GW) of solar energy capacity was installed in the U.S. in 2023, a roughly 55 percent increase.
- Projections call for an uptick of new land wind projects this year, totaling about 17 GW in 2024.
- Together, renewables combined with energy storage dominated new utility-scale generation sources, representing more than three-quarters of total new capacity added. Renewables, including large hydropower, represented about 25 percent of electricity generated in the United States in the first half of 2023.
- A record 1.2 million EVs were sold in the U.S. in 2023, representing 7.6 percent of total vehicle sales, up from 5.9 percent in 2022.
THE IRA HAS DRIVEN RECORD INVESTMENT IN ITS FIRST YEAR:
- Companies have announced 96 gigawatts of new clean power over the previous eight months, enough to power almost 20 million homes, that’s about one-seventh the total number of homes in the U.S.A.
- Companies have announced enough new U.S. battery manufacturing projects to support production of more than 10 million EVs per year – more vehicles than were manufactured in the U.S. in 2021.
- The IRA’s expected impact on private investment has increased between 50 percent and 200 percent from initial estimates, based on research from the Brookings Institution and Rhodium Group, with the largest jumps related to hydrogen, carbon capture, and energy storage.