NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Rutgers Cooperative Extension’s “Earth Day, Every Day” educational webinar series is back this spring in a different format. Open to the public, these free sessions focus on steps everyone can take to protect the environment. We can all do our part to make our homes more sustainable, from controlling invasive pests to collecting environmental data to protecting the local watershed. These actions, more than ever, start at home.

“Earth Day, Every Day” will celebrate Earth Day on April 25 at 6:30 p.m. with a special live webinar on climate change with Robert Kopp, Rutgers Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, who will be discussing “The Costs of Climate Change.” Kopp is a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2021 Sixth Assessment Report. According to the report, scientists are observing changes in the Earth’s climate in every region across the whole climate system and many of these changes are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. Climate change is causing more intense heat waves, more intense rainfall, and higher coastal flooding, causing economic harms around the world, including in New Jersey. Kopp will discuss what we know about climate change’s economic costs and how we can manage the risks climate change is creating. Be sure to bring your climate change questions for the Q&A session.

A total of 933 individuals participated in the 2021 series representing all 21 counties in the state, as well as other states. Overwhelmingly the audience indicated that the instruction and teaching, overall content and presentation was either good or excellent. More than 90% of the participants indicated they would adopt at least one action which included getting their garden soil tested for lead, joining a citizen science project in their community, using less salt on their property to protect freshwater streams, and incorporating native plants to promote habitat and reduce use of invasive exotic garden plants.

The live webinar will be one hour and will be presented via Zoom. More information about these free sessions and registration can be found here.

In addition to this live webinar, individuals are encouraged to watch recordings of some of our past offerings, with special attention given to these highlights through our Earth Day on Demand archive. These “recycled” videos are provided via Playposit and will pause during play for a question to pop up. Click on the link to sign up and access the video.

• What’s an Energy Audit and Do You Need One?
• Food Systems and Climate Change
• RU Ready for NJ’s New Plastic Pollution Reduction Law?
• Starting a Native Plant Garden

–Rutgers University