By Desmond de Jesus, TIRN Communications Intern
With Earth Day coming up, I’ve been reflecting on what it has meant to me, especially as my own path has changed. When I started college at Santa Barbara City College, I planned to study marine biology and pictured a future rooted in environmental work. Back then, environmentalism felt real and concrete—something you could study, measure, and protect.
Earth Day was always part of that journey, but its origins make one thing clear: protecting our blue-green planet was never meant to be passive. In 1970, Gaylord Nelson mobilized millions of Americans not for symbolism, but for action against visible environmental harm. He mobilized 20 million Americans, not because caring about the environment was a trend to be favored by others, but because the damage had become impossible to look away from. A few years before that, Rachel Carson had already done the hard work of telling the truth, forcing everyday people to reckon with something they had been conditioned to ignore.
That movement was birthed from the notion of disruption, not just awareness alone. They challenged the industries, the systems, and the quiet assumptions that had made environmental harm feel like an acceptable cost of modern life.
That perspective challenges how many of us engage with Earth Day now. In my life, it has sometimes looked like beach cleanups or picking up trash after events—actions that matter, but also reflect how easy it is to treat Earth Day as a single, convenient moment to give back.
But Earth Day didn’t start as a defensive gesture—it was an offensive push against the systems causing harm. If history teaches us anything, it’s that awareness was never the finish line—it was always just the door. But if Earth Day represents anything, it’s the idea that awareness is only the starting point. Real impact comes from consistent, sometimes uncomfortable engagement.
What would it look like to not just show up for one day, but to stay involved year-round?
Whether that means supporting organizations like TIRN, joining a member network, or contributing at a level that fits your capacity, the goal is the same: to turn a moment of awareness into sustained action. Earth Day should not just serve as a reminder of our planet’s importance, but as an entry point into something bigger, something ongoing, and something we choose to be part of together.
