Climate activists had been looking forward for months to the 50th anniversary of Earth Day with big marches and in-person rallies, but coronavirus has forced them to reassess and go online.
"As an organization whose two public pillars are marching and science, what do you do when the science tells you not to march?" March for Science president Matt Tranchin told The Hill.
"We are pivoting to virtual convenings as ways that we can still build up support and mobilize advocates around campaigns, initiatives and solutions around the world," he said.
Meanwhile, the Sunrise Movement is focusing on coronavirus itself for its Earth Day message.
"Our Earth Day plans are really focused on ensuring that we are facing the pandemic at hand as opposed to an entirely climate-centric message," Sunrise organizer Lily Gardner said.
Still, the group is putting causes such as the Green New Deal in its online leadership materials. A three-day Earth Day Live livestrean will feature Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., former Vice President Al Gore and former Secretary of State John Kerry as well as actors Jane Fonda, Joaquin Phoenix, and Mark Ruffalo.
Citizens Climate Lobby will now hold a virtual Earth Day in place of local events that had to be canceled.
"We were not planning to do something on the national scale because in normal times our volunteers are out in their community heavily during the whole month of April," Madeleine Para, Citizens Climate Lobby's vice president of programs told The Hill.
More conservative environmental groups were critical of the liberal groups' continued push for efforts such as the Green New Deal.
"The 50th anniversary of Earth Day marks tremendous progress made in cleaning up and protecting the environment over the past half-century," said Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment. "Our air and water are clean, toxic waste sites have been cleaned up, and wildlife is flourishing across America. Unfortunately, many environmental groups are unwilling to celebrate success and, instead, make unfounded claims that, for example, air pollution remains a significant health threat."
"The coronavirus shutdown illustrates what the environmental left seeks as a permanent response to the fictitious climate crisis: no flying, little automobile travel, vacation at home, and devastating economic contraction to reduce carbon dioxide emissions," added James Taylor, president of The Heartland Institute. "A better path for environmental stewardship is to protect nature from the large-scale mining of rare earth minerals necessary for wind turbines and solar panels. Wind turbines in particular are especially deadly to wildlife and require developing huge swaths of previously pristine lands."
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