Celebrate Earth Day- Every day is Earth Day
As we humans continue to subject our home planet to increasing pressures, European Space Agency ESA is the better placed than ever to understand and monitor the consequences of what we inflict. Astronauts onboard the International Space Station give us the human perspective of how beautiful Earth is, while satellites orbiting above return systematic measures to take the pulse of our planet 24 hours a day.
These measurements allow us to understand how Earth works as a system and how human activity is changing natural processes, leading to climate change. This information is fundamental to global climate policy-making through international bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and UN Climate Change Conferences, the next being COP26 later this year.
First held on 22 April, 1970, Earth Day is an annual celebration honouring our beloved Earth and raising awareness of the importance of protecting our planet for future generations. This year’s theme is ‘Restoring our Earth’, which focuses on the natural processes, emerging green technologies and innovative ways that can restore the world’s ecosystems.
ESA is a world-leader in Earth observation and remains dedicated to developing cutting-edge spaceborne technology to further understand the planet, improve daily lives, support effect policy-making for a more sustainable future, and benefit businesses and the economy.
While our Earth Explorers gather data to understand how our planet works and the impact that human activity and climate change are having on the planet. The European Union’s Copernicus Sentinels, developed and built by ESA, provide systematic data for environmental services that help adapt to and mitigate change and improve every day life.
A vision for our planet with Vangelis
In honour of Earth Day, Space Rocks is proud to present a career-spanning talk with Vangelis on his visionary music and a vision for our planet. Considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of electronic music, Vangelis is best known for his film scores including Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner among many others and has long been inspired by and associated with space exploration.
Join ESA TODAY 22 April at 21:00 CEST (20:00 BST) on the Space Rocks YouTube channel where we’ll be discussing how space inspires his music, its connection as an integral part of culture, as well as humanity’s responsibility to Earth, and how artists and scientists can foster a responsible attitude towards our planet.
Choose your Earth-themed teleworking background
Working from home can sometimes be difficult, and finding the right place to hold your virtual meetings can be challenging. Now you can add a bit of space to your home and remind your work colleagues it’s Earth Day by customising your video conference background with more than 700 images to choose from: Earth observation image of the week
Listen to our #EarthBeMine playlist on Spotify
Images from space remind us of Earth’s beauty, but also of how fragile it is. Here's a playlist to help reflect on our beautiful home planet – listen and love our planet! Access the playlist here.
An Earth Day message: “It can be done”
In summer 2018, ESA was joined by musician Vangelis and the family of scientist Prof. Stephen Hawking to beam a message marking his passing to the nearest black hole. On 22 April 2020, ESA transmitted this poignant message to all of planet Earth - as a message of hope, to say that, by working together, we can overcome this crisis and others facing humankind.
Further reading from ESA
