Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day.

Earth Day is the one day a year we pretend to give a fuck about the planet.

This is what protesters looked like for the first Earth Day in New York, 50 years ago.

No shortage of P2 masks back then!

They were protesting about air pollution at the time.

Air pollution has fallen massively worldwide since Covid-19 hit.

There is even talk of a 5% drop in global CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels this year, the biggest ever. (Let’s just pretend we’ve forgotten the 830 million tonnes of CO2 produced by the Australian bushfires, la la la la la, I can’t hear you, I’m not listening to you!)

A pandemic is a pretty ghastly way to achieve a drop in emissions though. There’s not much jumping for joy coming from me.

And let’s not forget the bigger picture. In the US for instance—without bringing Covid-19 into the picture—the air quality continues to suck due to climate change and its roll-on effects, such as more frequent forest fires leading to more small particles in the air.

“A new report from the American Lung Association finds nearly half of the nation's population—150 million people—lived with and breathed polluted air, placing their health and lives at risk. The 21st annual "State of the Air" report finds that climate change continues to make air pollution worse, with many western communities again experiencing record-breaking spikes in particle pollution due to wildfires. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of air pollution on lung health is of heightened concern.”

Meanwhile, as Trump “fights” Covid-19, he’s also finding time to make things worse in other ways.

“The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has gutted an Obama administration regulation requiring coal plants to cut their emissions of mercury and other pollutants that carry significant risks to human health.”

In a massive coincidence no doubt:

“The EPA […is] currently headed up by former coal industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler.”

Today I sit in a room in suburban Auckland. We are all under “lockdown” here. Outside, not a sound, except for insects and birds in the garden. About once an hour a car rolls past like a portal to another time. A plane flying overhead is a cause to come out and stare at the novelty of a plane flying overhead. I feel like a pygmy in the Amazon being buzzed by a turboprop for the first time. What the hell is that thing? Is it a bird?

At night, I take walks down the middle of the road, revelling in the silence, taking deep breaths of crazy fresh air.

Life goes on.

[Cover photo credit: AP, New York, 1970]