After every talk he gives around the country, Hobie Stocking, an environmental advocate for the Sierra Club, is confronted with the same question — a question that likely lurks in the minds of many others not bold enough to ask — “What can I do about climate change?” Stocking generally answers with a question, “What do you think you can do?”
“The climate crisis is large, scary and it seems overwhelming,” said Stocking, 72, of Decatur. Taking individual action is important and in some cases has big impact, but the kind of big changes needed require a commitment to collective action, he said. “It is mostly a collective issue that requires massive action by governments, cities and businesses, and yet there is a portion of our society that wants to blame individuals. We will not save the earth by recycling or composting, but we will show personal leadership by the things that we do and we will attract other people to do the same thing.”
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The 50th anniversary of Earth Day, taking place as an international pandemic lurks in the background, offers a time to reflect on the past and plot a new path for the future. As organizations shift from traditional neighborhood cleanups and rallies to virtual panels, performances and messages such as those planned for the three-day livestream, Earth Day Live, it highlights the importance of individual action as a pathway to collective change. Organized by Earth Day and Youth Climate Strikes, the daylong events can be viewed on major streaming platforms such as Facebook Live, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram as well as on the websites of partner organizations.
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Earth Day got off to a rocky start in Georgia. About two weeks before the inaugural event on April 22, 1970, 65 Washington politicians received a telegram from Georgia politician Jimmy Bentley, comptroller general and GOP candidate for governor. The telegrams — paid for by $1,625 in taxpayer money — asked them to demand that Earth Day move from April 22 because it was the birthday of Vladimir Lenin and it all smacked of a communist plot.
The day went on as planned with thousands of Georgians participating, and Bentley repaid the telegram money. Students across the state organized exhibits, did trash cleanups and listened to speeches by politicians and professors who emphasized the need to take action. Some politicians suggested all Georgia schools should initiate an ecology program.
Dr. Eugene Odum, a University of Georgia professor of ecology, also looked toward the future.
“Change will be jerky and there will be backlashes,” said Odum — often referred to as the father of modern ecology — to a crowd in Athens in 1970. “The big change will not be in our generation but from the generation now in high school and grade school.”
Those generations have since grown up, and as Odum predicted, change has been jerky.
“Looking back, it is so disappointing how little progress we have made,” said Scott Presson, 68, of Lawrenceville. Presson retired from a career in public health with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention but was motivated by his grandsons to spend his time fighting climate change by pushing cities to commit to transition to 100% clean energy. “I have been interested in the potential health effects from climate change that have already happened and will continue to progress to more significant events,” he said.
He worries that the current pandemic will lead state and local governments to shift money away from environmental investments at the time when it is most needed. “It will take a mix of efforts to really make this successful,” he said.
Several locals share how they turned their individual interests and talents into collective action.
Seth Gunning, 35, Woodstock
As a college student in South Georgia, Gunning helped the community battle the opening of Plant Washington, a proposed coal-fired plant that was recently denied a building permit by state officials. The experience led him to become a clean energy advocate for community organizations and nonprofits. Gunning now works for one of the largest solar installers in Georgia and continues to support the movement toward clean energy. “Putting solar on your home or business is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint,” he said, “but there are big policy changes that we need to make clean energy more accessible.”
Angela Jiang, 23, Atlanta
Raised in ethnically diverse Duluth, Jiang began organizing her neighbors to vote and connect with other immigrant groups. After majoring in environmental sciences in college, she began to see immigration issues as a symptom of the larger issue of climate change. This year, she helped plan livestreams for Sierra Club’s Earth Day 2020 experience. “The fact that it is virtual means there are no borders. You can plug in wherever you are. One thing that is exciting is the equity it represents.”
Tina Arnold, 48, Atlanta
When Arnold moved from Detroit to Lakewood Heights, the Atlanta neighborhood changed her. “I went from someone who really didn’t care and recycled nothing,” she said. But neighbors dragged her in with conversations about conservation. For her first Earth Day in 2004, she and her neighbors picked up hundreds of trashed tires. From there, her advocacy grew. “At the time, I wasn’t an organizer, I was a follower,” said Arnold, executive director of Sustainable Lakewood, which is dedicated to shaping the South Atlanta neighborhood into a greener community. “Start where your heart lies,” she said.
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