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13
Chapter 1
Introduction
The first Earth Day was on 22 April 1970. On that day, 20 million
Americans, 1 10% of the United States population, took to the
streets to show their love for the planet they call home. I was one
of them. As a student at the University of Arkansas, I attended a
teach-in, packed with people, all protesting against environmental
pollution. This was a defining moment for me. I realised I want to
help solve this big problem threatening our future. The first Earth
Day marked the beginning of my lifelong mission to help save the
planet.
Sadly enough, the state of the environment has gotten worse, not
better. Since 1970, the global population has doubled, material
extraction has tripled and global gross domestic product (GDP)
has quadrupled. If this trend continues, global consumption of
materials such as biomass, fossil fuels, metals and minerals is
expected to double over the next 40 years. 2
1 The history of Earth Day, https://www.earthday.org/history/.
2 OECD, Improving Resource Efficiency and the Circularity of Economies for
a Greener World, OECD Environmental Policy Papers, No. 20, Paris, 2020,
https://doi.org/10.1787/1b38a38f-en.