Every year in April people around the world celebrate Earth Day. It all began in 1970. Since then it has become a day when we all stop to appreciate all that Mother Nature has created for us, around us, and hopefully with us. We now look to improve upon our past, looking ahead and we commit to doing more, to volunteer more, and to building forward better.
This year is unique. Why? Simply this: over the past year we have all been grounded, unable to move around the world, unable to look at the world from different perspectives. As travelers, it has been challenging. Yet in an interesting way, it has also been rewarding.
For the first time in a long time we’ve been able to appreciate our natural world by standing still. We’ve seen the beauty that is around us, noticing the detail, noticing the changes of the seasons, and importantly, noticing our footprints. As we start traveling again let us reflect:
- Global carbon dioxide emissions fell by 6.4%, or 2.3 billion tonnes, in 2020
- 55 Whales were spotted in the waters near South Georgia, just north of Antarctica in 2020 after 50 years in which sightings in the same waters were scarce.
- 69% of people interviewed in global Values Shift study agreed: “To protect the environment I believe it is important that we all work together towards a more sustainable future.”
This year, as nature rebounds anew, we all have the opportunity to reflect on not just the beauty around us, but our urgent responsibility towards it. What can we do, each and every day, to contribute actively, in both immediate and long term ways? What am I doing? What are you doing?
This year, Earth Day and every day is, I believe, our call of action.
Now is the time to recognize that it is we, each and every one of us, that must commit:
- as individuals to reduce, reuse/recycle, use renewable energies, convert our ways
- support our industry’s plans – environmentally, economically, culturally, and socially. Measurable actions are articulated in every Strategic Plan and on websites.
- Join our families, friends and communities at home or abroad, to work together on new initiatives to “make a difference.”
And reap the great benefits for now and for future generations. The journey has started. 2020-22 is a special time to honor, to celebrate, and to care for, all that we have been given as a gift of Mother Nature. Happy Earth Day!
