Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day in Tacoma via Social Media

For this year's Earth Day, the plan was for Tacoma Tree Foundation and Earth Day South Sound to celebrate the month of April with a number of different events, capping off with a big tree-hugging gathering on April 22nd. Tree-hugging, for those who may not know, actually began in India in the '70s, with environmentalists literally hugging trees as a nonviolent protest to keep them from being deforested. It was, and remains, a simple, direct, and selfless way to show how important trees are to keeping this planet and its inhabitants going.

As we all might have expected, though, the recent COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a reshuffling of Earth Day events. Though where we'll all be in April is unknown, it's better to be safe than sorry. So, while some events may be going ahead as planned, they may be in different forms than intended. Tacoma Tree Foundation executive director Sarah Low explains what will be happening to the tree-hugging event on the 22nd.

“We just decided that, with so much uncertainty, and with so much work left to do, it would be better if we made it more of an at-home challenge,” says Low. So, what we're working on right now is essentially a social media campaign that invites people to notice the trees near them and make some kind of commitment to care for the trees around them. We hope that leads to a groundswell of tree-planting. We're hoping to use April 22nd, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, as an opportunity to invite people to commit to action in the fall, and to some extent in the summer. With the 50th anniversary, we're celebrating the things that have happened, but we're also really recommitting to taking care of the earth and using trees as the theme.”

Even while you're at home, there are many ways, both big and small, that you can help the cause. If you head over to earthdaysouthsound.org, you can to pledge to hug a tree, pledge to plant a tree, adopt a tree, or even donate a tree. But, even if you have no money to give, Low reminds us that this is just as much about expanding your awareness of the nature around us, and how it relates to you and your neighbors on a daily basis.

No matter what, whether we're in person, connecting around trees and hoping to improve our neighborhoods, or practicing our social distancing, trees are a form of community care,” says Low. “That shift of thinking – about the community that we live in, about the interconnection of all people, and about the organisms beyond ourselves – is really important. I'd love to invite people, as a daily practice, to notice their own connection to the space around their homes or the tree nearest them. Sometimes, that's the first step to taking some sort of action. … We've long been talking about trees as a community health intervention, essentially, so we really want green spaces to be a part of everyone's life. That's part of the way that we serve our community.” 

Follow Tacoma Tree Foundation or Earth Day South Sound on their Facebook pages to get updates on Earth Day events as they are announced. And, even after April is over, take Low's advice and really appreciate the beauty that we're lucky enough to be surrounded by in Tacoma – it may serve as a small antidote to the hardships we can encounter in our daily lives.

“With people feeling so shaken by what's been happening, and the constant, daily change in personal lives, trees do provide this opportunity to get grounded,” says Low. “You can see something that is there, but it's growing incrementally; you can't, in one moment, see that growth, but you can come back to it and notice the changes that are happening over days and years, which can be a very helpful practice.”