“Initially, I was not a big fan, because it seemed to infantilise the problem. I didn’t know the history; I just saw in schools they would put up signs about saving the trees,” she says. “But different communities need different things when it comes to solving the climate crisis. If you have a holiday that allows each community to commemorate it in a way that best fits their needs, I think that’s a good thing.”
It is youth movements like Zero Hour, alongside the school strikes spearheaded by Greta Thunberg, that are leading the climate movement today. But it’s worth remembering that Earth Day, when it started 50 years ago, was also led by young people: fiery students who had witnessed the decline of the natural world and felt as impassioned to solve it as many feel about climate change today.
So the story has come full circle. When Margolin set up Zero Hour, she was guided by insights from another local Seattleite: the original Earth Day organiser, Denis Hayes, himself. While the movement may not be the radical force it once was, it was arguably the seed for the modern ecosystem of environmentalism that is alive today.
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