Earth Day celebrated with pandemic twist

Coyotes roamed Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, and monkeys in India entered homes to look for food. Earth Day’s 50th anniversary on Wednesday arrived in the middle of global shutdowns for the coronavirus pandemic, and increased animal sightings weren’t the only environmental side effect of humans staying indoors. Compared to the last five years, Paris had 49 percent less air pollution in March, and levels of smog in Los Angeles were down by 29 percent, according to NASA measurements.

How are people celebrating Earth Day? The Washington National Cathedral scheduled a Facebook live event on Wednesday evening on healing the earth. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a WORLD News Group board member, said Christians can recognize the importance of protecting Earth without believing humans are a blight: “We understand as Christians that we will give an answer to the Lord either for not using the resources that He has given us or for using them in a wasteful or destructive manner. Stewardship does not mean non-use. It means wise use.”

Dig deeper: Read Kelly Kapic’s Whirled Views column about our dependence on creation amid the pandemic.