Earth Day 2024 takes place on the 22nd of April with a theme of Planet v Plastics. Originating in the United States in the 1970’s, Earth Day has grown into a global movement that has been embraced by 192 countries and is still growing.
In this blog post we will focus on how electric vehicles are helping to keep the planet clean, where the most EV ready places are in the UK and how Electric vehicles tie into the event’s theme of 2024.
History Behind Earth Day 2024
Like all major movements, they have to start somewhere. Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 and was the brainchild of a Junior Senator from Wisconsin called Gaylord Nelson. Mr Nelson was concerned by the amount of pollution being pumped out by cars into the environment over the previous couple of decades. He also witnessed a major oil spill in Santa Barbara and felt that enough was enough and decided to take a stand.
Gaylord Nelson was inspired by the anti-Vietnam student movement of the late 60’s. Nelson recruited a young activist by the name of Dennis Hayes and put him in charge of organising University and College teach-ins to inform the young generation about the cause and effects of pollution, thus gaining widespread interest. With the age of the hippy in full flow, it was not hard to find a large group of people determined to spread the message of love for the environment.
When deciding on a day for the newly conceived Earth Day, it was decided to hold it on the 22nd of April every year. This date was halfway between Spring break and finals. Student participation was essential and this date was perfect for allowing as many as possible to attend.
Electric Vehicles and Earth Day
As previously mentioned, the original Earth Day was inspired by the abundance of air pollution coming from cars. Of course, back in 1970 we were still about 40 years away from commercial electric vehicles being released. However, we believe that Nelson Gaylord would be delighted with the electric vehicle revolution.
More is being done to improve air quality, particularly in the UK, and electric vehicles are at the forefront. ULEZ and other low and zero emission zones have popped up around the country, making electric cars the best mode of transport for these big towns and cities.
Most Prepared Places in the UK
The Independent published the findings of a report into the readiness of towns and cities in the UK when it comes to the number of chargers compared to the number of citizens. Some of the results were quite surprising, with at least two noticeable names missing from the list. Others were very much expected.
Here are the top three. In third place is Slough. This town, probably most famous for being the home of the paper company in The Office, has a population of 158,500 people and has a charger for every 2,823.74 people. The average power of the chargers is 56kW and 95% of EV charging points are free. Dudley received an EV readiness score of 8.11 out of 10. In second place is Nottingham with one charger for every 1,135.27 people, an average power of 20kW and 98% of free EV charging points. Nottingham received an EV readiness score of 7.85. Finally, in first place, is the town of Dudley. Dudley has a charger for every 2,398.3 people, has an average power output of 40kW and also has 98% of free EV charging points. Dudley received a whopping 8.11 readiness score out of 10.
Tying in Electric Vehicles and Earth Day 2024
Planet v Plastics is the theme this year, and electric vehicles are a celebration of this. Did you know that most electric vehicles use recycled materials? Tesla uses a wide variety of recycled materials throughout the cabin. Polestar are using recycled fishing nets in their materials, and Kia has been using recycled ocean plastic for a number of years. The beauty is that these recycled materials don’t feel cheap at all. There is still a premium touch.
In the next few years we will see a lot more recycling technology used in EVs. The ocean is an abundant source, just because so much has been dumped there over many years.
Conclusion
Earth Day is a great day to help educate people on ways to do their bit to make small improvements for our environment. There is still a long way to go, but the future is looking brighter than ever. With EVs becoming more popular all the time, we can really enjoy much better air quality around the world. This can only be a good thing.
