Jet
22/4/26
Earth Day
Every year on the 22nd April it is Earth Day. Earth Day is an important day each year when we are all reminded of the importance of protecting the planet we live on.
Our Power, Our Planet
The theme for this years Earth Day is very similar to last year, Our Power, Our Planet. A lot of the world relies on fossil fuels for power. Fossil fuels are oil, coal and gas we get from the Earth. These are used by us all in many different ways as fuel. Fossil fuels power planes, cars, trucks, trains and ships. They are also used by buildings and homes for heat and cooking. Fossil fuels are also used to help create electricity, plastic and many other products. They are also used to produce heat to help make steel, cement and glass.
Humans are incredibly reliant on fossil fuels but the use of these fuels damage the planet we get them from! Burning fossil fuels creates carbon dioxide which is adding to what we call climate change. Climate change describes how the Earth is warmer than it should be. This is causing many problems around the world, damaging the world’s habitats and harming the animals that live in them. Once fossil fuels are gone, they also can’t be replaced.
Renewable energy is an alternative form of power that can replace the use of fossil fuels in some cases. Renewable energy are sources of energy that don’t run out. These include solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, geothermal energy and bio energy,
Solar energy captures energy from the Sun, using solar panels. These can be on roofs of homes and buildings or in huge solar farms.
Wind energy is using the wind on earth to turn huge turbines that then creates electricity. Wind farms, which contain lots of huge turbines, are positioned on hills or off the coast in the sea where the wind is strongest.
Hydropower creates electricity from moving water in rivers and dams as well as the tides in the oceans.
Geothermal energy uses the heat from the Earth’s core to create heat or electricity. This can be done in areas where there is volcanic activity.
Bioenergy creates power from plant, food and animal waste.
Wind turbines can be over 250 metres tall. That's much taller than the London Eye.
In 2025 renewable energy started to produced more electricity than coal, a type of fossil fuel.
The entire Earth could be powered for a year from just one hour of solar power from the Sun.
Scotland produces most of its electricity from renewable energy, mainly through wind power.
Vegetable oil from restaurants can be changed into biodiesel and used to fuel cars and trucks.
Hydropower is the world's largest source of renewable electricity, creating more than all other renewable sources combined.
The International Space Station is completely powered by solar power from the Sun.
Planet vs Plastics
In 2024 the theme for Earth Day was Planet vs Plastics. Plastic pollution is terrible for the planet. It harms the environment and wildlife. There is an aim that plastic pollution will be cut by 60% by 2040 to reduce this harmful pollution of our planet.
A lot of plastics never fully break down completely when thrown away, many take hundreds of years to break down and decompose, and even then leave microplastics behind so never fully disappear. Lots of plastic ends up in the worlds rivers, oceans and on beaches causing massive harm to the environment and wildlife. It is thought more than 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the worlds oceans every year.
Not only does plastic pollution damage our planet, it also really hurts the wildlife living on it too. Creatures can get trapped and tangled up in plastic and some will even eat it, mistaking it for food, which makes them really ill.
10 ways we can help reduce plastic pollution
The following tips may seem simple, but if we were all to try and do these little things it would all add up to help to reduce plastic pollution and you’d be doing something really important to help protect the planet we live on. One of the biggest problems is the use of single use plastic, things that are only used once and then thrown away, such as bags, straws, food and drink packaging.
1. Instead of using plastic straws try to use paper straws or straws that you can wash and reuse over and over again.
2. Drink water from a reusable bottle instead of buying lots of water in bottles and then throwing them away.
3. If you get an ice cream when you are out get one in a cone so you don’t need a plastic spoon, and think about any other take away food. Can you eat something without using plastic containers or cutlery? Even if take away cups and containers look like paper, they probably will have a plastic coating on them and are bad for the environment.
4. When you have a packed lunch from home could you take it in reusable containers instead of wrapping it in clingfilm that then is thrown away?
5. If you go to the supermarket with your parents can you help them choose fruits and vegetables without plastic packaging? And remind them to take their reusable bags to the shop so they don’t have to buy more!
6. Try and think about the food you are eating, especially small snacks that are wrapped in plastic packaging. Could you sometimes eat something that isn’t wrapped in plastic that then has to be thrown away?
7. Reuse plastic items whenever you can instead of throwing them away. Can you use something more than once or make something useful out of it to reuse it again?
8. Recycle whatever you can, looking at labels which lets you know what can and can’t be recycled.
9. Don’t litter, I really hope you wouldn’t throw your rubbish on the floor or leave it for someone else to clean up, but unfortunately some people do. Rubbish, including plastic that is left on floor really does harm the environment.
10. Go litter picking to help tidy up rubbish that has been thrown on the ground by others. Just make sure you wear gloves and don’t pick up anything that might hurt you. You can even get litter picking tools you can use to pick up litter, which means you wouldn’t have to touch anything!
Do you use a reusable water bottle?
Could you eat snacks that don't have lots of plastic packaging?
Can you try not to use plastic spoons and straws?
Can you use reusable containers in your lunchbox?
Could you help pick up litter and make sure you don't drop any?
All photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots, Public Domain and Shutterstock Images.