Earth Day Live

The event ran from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET on April 22, 23, and 24th.[1][3] The event was organized by EARTHDAY.ORG and a coalition of youth activists from the Future Coalition. The event was co-hosted by Ed Begley Jr. and Hayden Begley and featured Pope Francis, Michelle Obama, Patricia Espinosa, Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr., Al Gore, Joaquin Phoenix, Jane Fonda, Moby, Patricia Arquette, Robby Romero, Stacey Abrams, and more in conversation with climate change activists, scientists, and journalists.[1][5][6] The event also featured performances from musicians such as Dave Matthews, Ziggy Marley, Jason Mraz, Angélique Kidjo, Emily Wells, Aimee Mann, Ted Leo, Jack Johnson, Questlove, Talib Kweli, among others.[1][2][7]

EARTHDAY.ORG president Kathleen Rogers said that Earth Day Live was a monumental event that showed the resilience of the world in spite of grand challenges — from COVID-19 to climate change.

“Despite much of the world sheltering in place and the tragedy of the pandemic, tens of millions of people participated in Earth Day in 192 countries,” said Kathleen Rogers.[8]

Future Coalition executive director Katie Eder, who heads up the nine youth-led organizations that coordinated the event, said that Earth Day activism had to be rethought due to technological advances in modern times.[9][3][6]

“It’s a time to really rethink our strategy, we are really looking at this as a way to reimagine what a social movement can look like in a digital age.” said Katie Eder.[3][10]

The event focussed not only on climate change and environment like the traditional Earth Day, but also on society's ability to combat the effects of climate change, such as the COVID-19 Epidemic.[3][11]

“It’s not just about the environment and the climate,” “It’s also about building a society and an economy that’s going to take care of the people who’ve been affected by this crisis, the people who are on the front lines of this crisis, whether that’s through health care efforts or economic efforts.” said Naina Agrawal-Hardin, of the Sunrise Movement, one of nine youth led organizations who organized the event.[3][10]