Earth Day has given up on the Earth.
That's not true, of course. It's just the environmental group Earthday.org, and even then its announcement of switching its allegiance to Mars Day in 2024 on April 1 was just timed for April Fools' Day.
"It is with heavy hearts that today Earthday.org is announcing that we are moving on from Earth, to rebrand as Mars Day," it "announced," going on to place the blame on plastics and the plastics industry for "its fake promises about recycling."
Mars, it notes, has no plastics. (Unless you count the plastics exploratory vehicles such as the Mars rover, of course. And I'm not sure how they would get to Mars without composites or plastics in aerospace components.)
As you can guess, the group isn't a fan of plastics. At all.
In fact, its official announcement for its real focus on Earth Day, April 22, is called "Planet vs. Plastics," and it calls for a 60 percent reduction in plastics production by 2040.
But while Earthday.org may have sprung out of the original Earth Day in the United States in 1970, it doesn't set the agenda for everyone.
Canada's Earthday.ca, for instance, says "Earth Day is Leg Day" on its website, calling for people to skip a car for 10 "sustainable commutes," opting instead to walk, bike or take mass transit.