Alfred Ajayi
Today is Earth Day, a global commemoration marked every year on April 22. The day was earmarked since 1970 to raise awareness and take action for the protection of our environment.
It brings people across walks of life – governments, organizations, schools, individuals together to reflect on environmental challenges and work collaboratively toward solutions.
First celebrated on April 22, 1970, in the United States, the day was founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson, who was inspired by the student anti-war movement and wanted to channel that energy into environmental action.
The first Earth Day, which mobilized over 20 million Americans, gave birth to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the passage of key environmental laws.
The laws include: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act. By 1990, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries.
The day has the largest civic observance in the world now coordinated by Earthday.org, involving over 1 billion people in more than 190 countries.
Themes Over the Years
Each year, Earth Day is commemorated with distinct a theme targeted at driving efforts towards improving the situation of the earth.
In 2024, the theme was Planet vs. Plastics, theme aimed at reducing plastic pollution and pushing for a 60% reduction in all plastic production by 2040.
2023 Earth Day was themed Invest in Our Planet, a clarion call on governments, businesses, and individuals to invest in a greener future.
Attention in 2022 was on the need to invest in our planet to keep it safe and habitable. The commemoration was themed Invest in Our Planet.
It was building on the theme for 2021 edition which was Restore Our Earth.
While global climate change conversation often revolves around cutting emissions, 2021 theme stresses the need to restore ecosystems, regenerate degraded environments, and invest in nature-based solutions.
These themes and those of years earlier guide environmental campaigns, educational events, policy advocacy, and community cleanups.
Why Earth Day Matters
Commemorating the Earth Day is of immense benefit to the global community.
It boosts awareness creation on climate change by highlighting the urgency of global warming, extreme weather, and rising sea levels.
The commemoration also helps to control pollution by drawing attention to the destructive effect of air, water, and land pollution.
It also helps the protection of biodiversity by focusing on conserving endangered species and restoring natural habitats.
The day boosts advocacy efforts towards a safer earth. It empowers people to push for sustainable policies at local, national, and global levels.
The day renews consciousness and commitment to activities such as tree planting and clean-up drives, climate education workshops, marches and policy advocacy,
Other features are: community recycling initiatives, art, music, and cultural expressions centered around nature.
Technological evolution has brought about digital activism with webinars, online petitions, and virtual environmental summits as key features of the day.
Why Africans should care
In African countries, Earth Day often intersects with challenges like deforestation and land degradation, poor waste management, urban pollution, climate-induced migration and loss of biodiversity.
All of them pose great threats to the health and sustainability of the earth. Earth Day is therefore an opportunity for grassroots mobilization.
It also offers opportunity for storytelling around indigenous knowledge, and advocating for climate justice in favour of the continent.
Such advocacy is particularly compelling given the fact that Africa which contributes the least to global emissions, suffers disproportionately from climate impacts.
The Nigerian situation
Nigeria still grapples with environmental challenges like plastic pollution, deforestation, urban air pollution, climate impacts as well as oil pollution and gas flaring.
Nigeria generates over 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually with Lagos accounting for nearly 15%. Most of them end up in drainages, lagoons, and the ocean.
Across states of the federation, waste management systems have proven either poor or non-existent as a significant portion of waste ends up in landfills.
About 80% of plastic waste is disposed of in landfills and dump sites, with less than 12% being recycled.
As of 2018, approximately 59% of all waste was managed informally. This according to Statista points at a worryingly substantial reliance on unregulated disposal methods.
Another worrying reality in Nigeria is that the Nigeria has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world with about 400,000 hectares lost annually.
This is primarily responsible for increasing desertification in the North and biodiversity loss in the South.
Urban air pollution is equally a growing worry with open waste burning. Old vehicles and generators are increasing in number driving air pollution.
This has been linked to rising cases of respiratory illnesses and poor urban health outcomes.
Climate change impacts such as rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, desert encroachment (North), and increasing floods in the South-East and South-South.
Climate change is threatening agriculture, food security, health, and livelihoods.
Another major environmental concern in Nigeria oil pollution and gas flaring. In the Niger Delta, decades of oil spills have degraded farmlands and water sources.
This is a major driver of displacement as people particularly youths are relocating to safer locations. Despite to end it, gas flaring has continued unabated.
To this end, it is compelling on a day like this for Nigerians to renew commitment towards actions that will help to keep the earth safe present and future generations.
Happily, the commemoration is in recent years gaining increasing traction, particularly among youth-led groups, media, NGOs, schools, and faith-based organizations.
Opportunities offered by commemoration
Earth Day commemoration offers opportunity for community action and grassroots movements. It is a powerful mobilization moment.
The 2025 edition is not just a celebration—it’s a call to action that different groups can leverage to drive policy change, public awareness, innovation, and environmental justice.
It is a time for government to launch climate change or environmental policies and review existing ones.
The day should be used to mobilize citizens on key issues like plastic reduction, tree planting, or clean energy adoption.
It is also a time to showcase how sub-national actors (LGAs and states) are integrating environmental plans into development efforts.
On the part of the civil society and NGOs, opportunities include: grassroots mobilization through programmes like cleanups, tree planting, eco-marches, or workshops.
Advocacy and lobbying are also in order as they push for stricter enforcement of environmental laws or local adoption of global climate frameworks.
They can also empower climate clubs in schools, run competitions or environmental literacy programs.
Most importantly is the need for them to build coalition by uniting NGOs under one national campaign to amplify their voice for systemic change.
For the media, Earth Day is a prime opportunity to spotlight local environmental heroes or innovators, produce documentaries or features on pressing issues.
It is an opportunity to investigate environmental policies and budgets as well as promote solutions journalism by showcasing successful community-driven climate solutions.
Educational institutions and private sector
Schools, universities and academic institutions can host lectures, debates, and practical sessions on climate change, waste management, and conservation.
They can also organize competitions such as debates, essays, innovation challenges themed around “Our Power, Our Planet.”
Campus cleanups and tree planting can also be organized to instill ownership of the environment from a young age.
For the private sector and industry, they can tailor their corporate social responsibility (CSR)-driven campaigns to green initiatives like cleanups, solar donations, or tree planting.
They can equally use the Earth Day to announce corporate sustainability commitments or new eco-friendly products.
They can also partner NGOs or Government by supporting activities, programmes and projects targeted at the commemoration.
Religious organizations should also consider incorporating eco-sermons, creation care, stewardship, and environmental ethics into their activities and programmes.
Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) are in a vantage position to mobilize people around sacred groves, rivers, or forests that need protection or revival.
They can also collaborate with NGOs to organize outreach and behavior change campaigns in commemoration of the day and even beyond the day.
The Earth Day 2025 theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” underscores that everyone has a role to play.
Whether it’s through policy, innovation, storytelling, activism, or faith, Earth Day is a chance for each group to take action towards salvaging the earth, our collective heritage.
