Think about systemic actions this Earth Day

Earth Day is on 22 April and there will be many who would get together and do something for the environment. For this coming Earth Day, we want to share what Alex Steffen and Sarah Rich of WorldChanging wrote last year titled “Make This Earth Day Your Last!“:

Earth Day has served its time, and it must go. The biggest problem with Earth Day is that it has become a ritual of sympathy for the idea of environmental sanity. Small steps, we’re told, ignoring the fact that most of the steps most frequently promoted (returning your bottles, bringing your own bag, turning off the water while you brush your teeth) are of such minor impact (compared to our ecological footprints) that they are essentially meaningless without larger, systemic action as well.

The myth of individual lifestyle responsibility is so strong, most of us don’t even comment on it anymore. But in many ways, it’s a lie. What most needs to be changed in the world are the systems in which we are all enmeshed, and we ourselves, acting alone, are almost powerless to change those systems. To do that, we need better information, stronger connections and new ways of thinking.

This Earth Day, let’s reflect on what we have been doing for the environment. It’s time to think about how to take more systemic actions.

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