Earth Day 2024: A Renewed Commitment to Protect Our Planet

In 2024, we mark two milestones: the 54th Earth Day and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of State's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Over the last five decades, environmental diplomacy has contributed to repairing the hole in our ozone layer, reducing the pollution that causes acid rain, and protecting the populations of key fish species people rely on for food. Americans and people around the world live longer, healthier, more prosperous lives because of the work of U.S. environmental diplomats.

This year's Earth Day focuses on the threat plastic pollution poses to our waterways, our ocean, and the people and marine life that depend on these fragile ecosystems. As we have done in the past when faced with environmental challenges, the United States is taking action at home and abroad to address this threat. We are leading discussions on a global agreement on plastic pollution that would help protect the health of our planet and our communities. The State Department is also taking direct and immediate action through the End Plastic Pollution International Collaborative (EPPIC) initiative - a global public-private partnership that brings together governments, civil society, and businesses to drive innovation, leverage resources, and deploy projects and policy efforts to reduce plastic pollution.

Plastic pollution exacerbates issues of water quality, food safety, public health, and disproportionately affects vulnerable populations. This Earth Day, let us renew our commitment to turn the tide on plastic pollution and forge a path towards a cleaner, more sustainable world.

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