If you’re looking for ways—beyond recycling and curbing your use of disposable plastics—that you can make a difference in the planet’s environmental health, consider tuning in to this year’s virtual edition of EarthX.
Typically held at Dallas’ Fair Park, the 10-year-old expo is billed as the world’s largest Earth Day celebration. Last year, the event drew more than 177,000 attendees. But this year, the April 24-26 conference has been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, EarthX will host some of its events online.
This year, EarthX is partnering with the National Geographic Society to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. A live-streamed version of the 50th Earth Day celebration is scheduled for April 22, with appearances by Tia Nelson, daughter of Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, as well as world explorers and environmental leaders.
Those appearances will be layered with selections from the 2020 EarthX Film Festival, which will be presented in the fall. Featured films highlight critical environmental issues facing our planet, and the full lineup includes Texas filmmaker Ben Masters’ The River and the Wall, Ben Moon’s Grizzly Country, and Patagonia’s Treeline.
Tony Keane, the chief executive officer of EarthX, says the current global health crisis should remind us how small and interconnected we are to each other and the planet.
“This is an unfortunate time, but we now have the opportunity to include people from across the globe in our mission through our virtual programming,” Keane says.
Conferences that were scheduled for Dallas as part of the celebration will be presented virtually from April 23-25, and also in early May.
“EarthX remains unwavering in its commitment to shed light on the environmental challenges facing our planet, and this recent crisis has been a testament to our strength in collectively spreading awareness and seeking solutions in the face of adversity,” says Trammell S. Crow, the Dallas businessman and philanthropist who founded EarthX in 2011. “We are all in this together.”