 So I'm now going to turn to invite two of my colleagues to join me. Hold on one moment. So we have been collaborating with the Earth Day Network. They're actually outside of the SDSN Network, but a great partner. And so for today, I'm excited to welcome Sam Hunt and Evan Raskin who managed the Earth Day Network's Mobilize You campaign. It's a program dedicated to uniting and growing student and institution led environmental movements on campuses across the world. So we are going to have them on. This is just a short 30 minute session and we are hoping to have a Q&A at the end. So please continue to add in your questions into the GoToWebinar panel and hopefully we can answer some of those at the end. So Evan and Sam, would you like to turn on your cameras and join me? And I will bring up your slides. Hello. Perfect. Oh, thank you so much, Elana. It's great to be here. Absolutely. That was wonderful to have Bill be able to share a few words about his skill within the climate movement and really emphasizing the roles of young people. And we hope to echo that. As mentioned, Evan and I work for Earth Day Network, which is the global coordinator of Earth Day. And we really try to get everyone involved in the environment and sustainability movement in some way, really focusing on a lot of different audiences. One important audience of which is the college age group where Evan and I work on and that falls under the Mobilize You campaign. And so we really do try and create this network of students and faculty all over the world that can all work together on campus sustainability projects because there's so much power in unifying voices like we've heard throughout the day on this webinar. And we're excited to be here with you today on Earth Day to share how our work overlaps with the work of sustainable development goals and of course, happiness in many ways. And we'll also explain some of the best ways to be active this Earth Day from home, including a brand new Mobilize You development called the Campus Climate Project. And I think maybe in the chat box, they dropped in a question about how you've been involved with Earth Day so far. Hopefully you've been able to join it in some way. And if you haven't yet, that's okay. We'll talk you through what that could look like to make your voice heard from home. Actually, Sam, we have a poll if you'd like to go ahead and launch it and that way we can get people to type in and we can see what their answers are. Yeah, sure, that'd be great. So we'll just give everyone about 30 seconds are here, but let us know how you have participated in Earth Day so far. Yeah, so this might be quite different than other Earth Days you've joined in in the past, but since this is the 50th anniversary, we're still really excited to be bringing our voices together. And it's been a really interesting progress trying to figure out how to transition these massive in-person events to something still meaningful online. So I wanted to thank you all again for joining in today. And this is a way to participate in Earth Day. Perfect. I still see people participating, so just one, 10 more seconds. All right, great. I think we can close that now and we'll share the results. Perfect, so yeah, it looks like almost all, obviously everyone who's joined in has joined a live stream, but I'm really excited to see that a lot of people have chatted with their friends or family because Earth Day typically revolves around really large educational events, which we'll talk about a little bit, but I'm excited to see that the scale has shifted down to the friends and family level. Yeah, so in a time of so much uncertainty, it's really good to see that the majority of people here have begun their Earth Day discussions in some way, shape, or form. And for everyone who's still looking for ways to get involved, we're really excited to be able to tell you a little bit more about that in the coming minutes. So if we're ready to move on to the next slide. As Sam was mentioning, to continue off of our background on the Earth Day network, our overarching mission as an organization is to continue to grow what's become the largest environmental movement on Earth and to drive truly planetary change. Similar to the Sustainable Development Goals, which aims to give every human the right to live a fulfilling and healthy life. Our own goals seek to provide a better life for everybody on planet Earth. We seek to build a sustainable future that doesn't come at the detriment of anyone, but rather the benefit of everyone. And just like the Sustainable Development Goals, we're working with some very big problems from climate change to science denial, to global inaction from our leaders, and a planet that can't keep up with the demands of our ever-growing human population. And so Earth Day Network seeks to unite humanity to overcome these global challenges by using Earth Day as a catalyst for change in the coming year. And so what can we do together at these times to achieve these goals together, even though we have to maintain a certain level of physical distance? I'll turn that back over to Sam on the next slide to continue. Thanks. So what's fortunate for us is also like the Sustainable Development Goals, we really rely on localized action to accomplish our goals. And like Evan was saying, this is especially important right now given our situation with COVID-19 and lack of direction from leadership. But at Earth Day Network, we rely on individuals to yield real power and influence as a consumer, a student, a voter, and just a member of the community that can unite for change. So everyone that's listening in can join in like we've mentioned and take some tangible actions at home to still contribute to this huge moment in history, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. This message of the power of the individual was really integral to the development of the first Earth Day back in 1970. And where better to see the power of young energized activists than with the group that started it all with the first Earth Day. And then this has now grown into the youth led climate movement. So we can go to the next slide and get some context for how Earth Day came to be. In the decades leading up to Earth Day, mainstream America remained largely oblivious to environmental concerns. And there weren't very many consequences to things like pollution and inefficient automobiles, different things like that until a major oil spill took place off the coast of Santa Barbara, California in 1969. Major spill, a lot of wildlife was harmed for many this was a big wake up call at the time. And unsusprisingly, the response came largely from students in the area. They formed some of the country's first environmental organizations and initiated some of our first climate protests like we see in this image here. And this oil spill is considered almost an ecological shot heard around the world, really triggering the first wave of direct environmental action in the US including the early inklings for Earth Day. And slowly we've seen this movement grow into a more global phenomenon. And we can hit the next slide to figure out more how Earth Day is founded. It was largely founded by a senator from Wisconsin at the time named Gaylor Nelson. And he realized that, if he could infuse this energy of the anti-war protests on the campuses at the time with this public consciousness about air and water pollution, it could really force the environmental protection onto a national political agenda. And this was really novel for its time. The environmental movement hadn't been combined in such a way yet. So on the next slide, we can see kind of the results of Senator Nelson's vision. So we have the first Earth Day, April 22nd, 1970, 20 million Americans, which was 10% of the total population in the US at the time. They took to the streets, onto campuses, parks, you name it. And they all came together to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive coast-to-coast rallies. And campuses at the time were a huge proponent of Earth Day. Over 1,500 campuses held teachings which are essentially large community discussions about the environment. And for the thousands of students that attended these teachings, it was really their first touch with environmental education. And so we saw huge impacts from the first Earth Day. And I think Evan can tell us a little bit more about this Earth Day and why we keep talking about it 50 years later. So on this next slide here, we'd like to discuss exactly what made Earth Day in 1970 such a catalytic moment for the environmental movement. As Sam had mentioned, there had been groups across the country that had been growing in concern for the environment. And they'd been fighting individually against these environmental villains, but had never before been able to unite their voices in the way that Earth Day 1970 allowed them to. This moment was a rare moment of political alignment for the United States in a time of sharp division in which we were able to see support coming from both sides of the political aisles from all areas of socioeconomic backgrounds. Those from all walks of life were able to come together on these issues and demonstrate for the first time that the natural environment is something that we all share as a global community and that its health is requisite for all of our own health as well. And by the end of 1970, the first Earth Day had built enough momentum to lead to the creation of some of the most important pieces of legislation that laid the groundwork for the future of environmental protection in the United States, such as the clean air, the clean water and the endangered species acts. More specifically to college campuses, the first Earth Day is where we begin to see the introduction of environmentalism as a component of higher education. This is where we first see the first environmental clubs and student organizations forming. This is where we start to see the introduction of environmental courses and degree paths and majors focused on sustainability and the environment. So let's fast forward on the next slide so 50 years later to what Earth Day has become in 2020. Earth Day is now the world's largest civic observance participated in by over a billion people and driven by 75,000 partner organizations worldwide. So typically on Earth Day, we'd see large scale gatherings of people from all walks of life, gathering in city centers across the globe. But this year, we need to do things a bit differently in response to COVID-19 and the changes that we must make to celebrate Earth Day responsibly. And so this year, rather we are excited to share with you 24 hours of continuous content and challenges to get people excited and engaged from the safety of their homes, as well as daily actions for you to take throughout the month of April. And of course, Earth Day Live are 24 hour broadcasts featuring speakers ranging from climate experts to the Pope speaking out on the importance of taking immediate action on environment and the climate. And what makes Earth Day special even in these times is that this is the first time since the crisis started that we're able to come together as a planet. And in times such as these, it's more important than ever to underscore the importance of unity and optimism. Things that have always been core components of Earth Day. We like to say that this isn't just a day, but a movement. We've always used Earth Day as a moment to reflect on the growth that we've made in the last year and set goals that inspire us for the coming one. So even though Earth Day on April 22nd of this year, we've had to make certain concessions and certain alterations to the plans that we typically would hold. This is still an incredible moment for us to decide what the future of our planet will be and what actions we can take moving forward for me here. In some ways, as we heard from Bill McKibben earlier, this crisis has given us a chance to take pause, to see life on Earth in a different way in all of its fragility and resilience. We're able to see clearly what humanity's relationship with the Earth is truly like in this moment and prompts us of a vision of a sustainable future and the opportunity to put it in place as we rebuild. And so on the next slide, we'll start to discuss how MobilizeU and Earth Day Network can contribute to this vision. And so one of our core beliefs being that environmental education is the stepping stone to this sustainable future that we hope to build together. And so as we discussed earlier in this presentation, Earth Day prompted the formation of environmentalism as a component of the higher education experience, but even still it is largely contained within programs and events that are focused specifically on sustainability in the environment. And we believe that it is time that these values are ingrained into the general education, something that becomes part of the overall university experience because no matter what their professional goals, the health of the environment is going to play a role in the success of students as they set out into their careers. But, and for many students, their goals and their careers are focused on helping people, on making the world a better place, creating change that positively affects humanity in the same ways that the United Nations sustainable development goals seek to do so. And so these students who formed the next generation of leaders who will be taking on these global problems, if they are taught that sustainability is requisite in achieving these goals, then we will see global development unfold in a way that aligns with this. And so I'd like you to think back on your own college experiences, on your own college classes. Did you consider how what you were learning is relevant to sustainability in the environment, the connections between your course material and that? Most of us on this call, we have a pre-existing interest in the environment and it's likely that we've opted into participating in classes, activities and events related to these interests during our college experiences. But now let's think of our friends who don't necessarily share these interests, don't necessarily take the same time out of their lives to analyze these connections, to participate in sustainability electively. Is it possible that they could have gone through their entire college education without having ever interacted with these ideas? So as we have discussed some birthday, it's fostered environmental education for those who seek it out on college campuses, but we want to take this outside of these self-contained degree pathways and outside of these events specialized in sustainability and instill it into the general education. And make sure that no student leaves college unaware of the connections between sustainability and their future careers. So on the next slide, we'd like to introduce Make Climb at a Class, one of our programs targeted at bringing environmental education into the fold for all courses, no matter the subject. And starting this Earth Day, educators worldwide are pledging to make climate a class by including environmental education in a portion of their lectures or dedicating a lecture to analyzing the intersections between the environment and their own curriculum with the hopes that this will become part of their lesson plans moving forward throughout the year. Students everywhere are urging their professors to take part in this program starting this April because we truly believe that no matter the discipline, sustainability plays a role in every curriculum. And to loop back to Earth Day 1970 and where all of this got started, that thousands of students were introduced through environmentalism through large-scale teach-in lectures. And presently, these events are not a possibility, but perhaps there are even better ways of instilling these commitments to sustainability in the environment. We believe that we need more than one time opt-in teach-in seminars to create these connections. To create a lifelong commitment to sustainability in the environment, we need to see environmental education become part of the curriculum year-round in all areas of academic interests. And so this Earth Day, we hope to get this ball rolling through the commitments formed by educators and students alike to introduce these concepts into their classrooms and weave these connections into the curriculum year-round. And we hope that those of you in the audience with ties to higher education will do the same. So I'd like to turn it back over to Sam now to discuss some of the other ways that we believe that environmental education can then be weaved into the higher education experience. Great. So in this next slide, I will introduce our other project, which is the Campus Climate Project. And it kind of shows that through made climate a class, hopefully many will still be touched this Earth Day, but with our current situation and inability to gather, it is proof that leaving environmental education to one day or one week a year will not suffice as Evan was getting at. And so we thought, how can we still reach a wide audience on Earth Day and year-round? And we started to realize, maybe this is an area that a lot of campuses can improve upon year-round education. And that's what we're trying to accomplish with made climate a class. But this information is not widely available. We're wondering, 2020, 50 years after Earth Day hit campuses in 1970, do we have a clear role of the higher education in the climate fight? Are students leaving campuses with the skills and knowledge that they need to thrive in a workforce that will be impacted by climate change? So campuses are thought to be the leaders of sustainability movement, but we wanted to take this 50 year mark to reflect. And this is how we got to the campus climate project. It's an effort to create data on how colleges are doing in this effort to repair their students, in addition to their campus operational commitments. And so the overarching prompt of the campus climate project is to think about, is your campus doing enough to prepare students to address global environmental challenges? Just are they doing enough? We want to see the highlights and see some areas of improvements to kind of learn where the consensus is for campus climate commitments and look for a clearer path forward. And a lot of campuses we might realize are failing to pay enough attention to their largest, most impactful emissions, which I would argue is not carbon. It's their graduating students. They are producing thousands of students every year that go out into the world and they wanna make sure that those emissions, these students are prepared when they leave their campuses. So on the next slide, we can go over how this project works. So there's three steps to get involved and throughout Earth Day and the rest of April, students and faculty all over the world are logging either a climate success or a suggested improvement for their campus and the result will be a map of the whole world dictating the current consensus on this matter. And essentially what we're doing is asking students and faculty to use this slow time at home to help us envision what the next 50 years of campus sustainability can look like. This is a time to think big, to throw the norm out the window and think about what the possibilities and potentials for higher education sustainability can look like. And this reflection time is a really important step before advocacy when we go out and to take to the streets once we can gather again in person and sort of advocate for these changes that we're hoping to see. So now you know how it works with this campus climate project. On the next slide, we can tell you how to get involved and I think our friends are gonna help put in the chat box some of the links to help make sure your voice is heard with this 50th anniversary of Earth Day because we really do rely on individuals like all of you listening to contribute to this movement. And it's very appropriate that this awesome webinar is happening on Earth Day. This anniversary moment of when young people back in 1970 stood up and said, you know, enough is enough. Today we're fighting a lot of the same battles but the scale is far, far greater. And to see real change, we need to merge in our individual actions into mass mobilizations, which is exactly what Earth Day Network and MobilizeU is hoping to accomplish. So to participate in Earth Day with MobilizeU, you can definitely add your voice to the campus climate project. If you have an idea of what a campus can do to be contributing sustainably to our world, please add it onto the map. Even, you know, it can be something good, it can be something you think an area of improvement but overall, you know, we're creating this consensus map and we're really excited to see the results and hopefully lead towards more advocacy. And then of course, you can help support MobilizeU year round by becoming a MobilizeU ambassador. It's basically an Earth Day representative on your campus that makes sure your campus is connected into this global environmental movement because it is really important that we're all working in unison and working together. And you can find this information and more on our website listed there, earthday.org slash campaign slash MobilizeU. So I guess to finish, I'll encourage you all to stand up with us to say enough is enough and take time today or tomorrow or throughout the rest of the year to figure out how you can make your voice heard and be a part of this historic movement. Yeah, so I don't know if you have much time for questions. Yeah, but if there is any, we'll welcome it. We have a couple. So I'm gonna, we'll try to do them quickly. We do have a couple minutes here. I did wanna just mention though, it's so funny. So as you know, we're running a 24 hour stream and I was on the line last night at midnight. We started at 9 p.m. yesterday because that's the morning in Hong Kong. And actually our Indonesia colleagues presented very similar messaging about localization of action, you know, you have to vote. You actually have to stay united. You have to communicate with your family and friends. And it's funny because your messaging, you say how important it is maybe to do that through education and they related it all back to their spirituality. So it was the same idea, but it was kind of a different methodology, but it's really nice to see this kind of all coming together. We're basically saying the same things and just using different ways to get that out there. So it's great to see those parallels 12 hours later. So we have a couple of questions. I'm gonna try to do them justice. So actually we have a colleague on that. His name is Arthur Dahl. And he says he studied actually at Santa Barbara at the oil spills. And he spoke for a student group at the first Earth Day in Washington DC. And he's joining us today from Geneva, Switzerland. So he asked how can people like him reach out virtually to students today? So you gave us a lot of opportunities of how academics and colleges can get involved, but how can we reach students too? Do you guys have any ideas on that? Goodness. I'd say right now, I think there's gonna be a lot happening on social media. And that's a really great way to reach students right now. The hashtag being used today is just Earth Day or Earth Day 2020. And I think just following that thread, and we have a mobilize you Twitter account. It's mobilize under score you. And that's a great hub to see anything that's college related in terms of Earth Day. Evan, do you have anything to add to that question? Yeah, so for those of you like our colleague here who have this long standing commitment to the environment and have been active going all the way back in this case to Earth Day 1970, which is just amazing. I believe that finding ways to reach out to your alma mater and communicating your long standing commitment, discussing how you began this process of commitment to the environment starting here in 1970. Where has your alma mater ended up today? Have the commitments that you hoped to achieve been made? And urging your university to take up the role that they should in this fight against climate change and to be the type of actor that students have been demanding for so long. And so we offer some resources to help make this happen. MobilizeU, which can be found at earthday.org. Most of these are oriented towards students being able to reach out to their professors and administration to advocate for the environment. But this may be also a good template for those of us who are alumni to work off of in contacting their universities. Universities are responsive not only to students but also alumni seeing as both of these constituencies form a very large portion of those who the university administration is ultimately accountable towards. So even if you're not currently enrolled in school making your voice heard with the university administration can go a long way to demonstrating that the stakeholders in a university's organization have certain values that must be represented in the operations of these campuses. Great, thank you. And if I can add to, I would say the power are there of a mentor in these days, especially young people, we can get exhausted very quickly. This is a really emotional challenge for a lot of us because we've started young in our career and we're already looking at the daunting challenge of reducing emissions in the next decade. So having a mentor that is actually committed and really working with you. And we also have an SDSN youth network that works globally that we're happy if anybody wants to contribute their time and support too and be happy to connect you with students worldwide as well in addition to the Earth Day Network. If I can add just one more thing. The point that you've raised Elena is a really important one. We've found through our research and experience that there is no more motivated group of people than college students to take action on the environment. And we've also found however that students are also one of the populations that are given the least amount of equipment to be able to take that action directly. And so the importance of mentorship is so important whether it be through personal connections through the UN or through mobilize you. Please, if anybody has a desire to get involved further with the environment and is seeking guidance, all of us here are more than happy to be able to provide that so that we can all take the stand that we want to. Yes, thank you, Elena. Thank you, all right. So we're at the half hour. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Evan, so much for joining us. Continue your efforts throughout the day. We did share the links in the chat so hopefully people go and take action and also join the Earth Day Live. If any of our sessions aren't particularly relevant go check out their stream as well. We want to continue to cross promote each other. Yes, thank you so much and have a great Earth Day, everyone. Hope you.