US Navy commands worldwide are observing Earth Day in April through events and activities that demonstrate good environmental stewardship among Sailors and civilian personnel.
Events range from tree plantings to shoreline and neighborhood base cleanups, nature tours, school presentations and recycling challenges. In many locations, Earth Day also provides an opportunity for the Navy to engage with local communities.
The Navy’s 2016 theme, “Creating Resiliency Afloat and Ashore,” makes the point that protecting the environment and using energy wisely helps us perform our mission more effectively. As examples, looking out for marine life and responsibly handling waste materials aboard ships, funding research to better understand whale physiology and habitat; and conducting environmental planning for our training and testing activities can help minimize our impact on the planet and maintain trust with regulatory agencies and the public.
Energy efforts such as optimizing fuel use in ships, aircraft and tactical vehicles; integrating renewable energy sources such as solar arrays at our installations; and improving the efficiency of our buildings improve our resiliency as well.
Operational platforms can then travel farther and get more mission capability from each gallon of fuel and shore facilities improve their ability to continue key functions when the commercial power grid goes down.
“For the Navy, Earth Day isn’t simply a one day event,” said Rear Adm. Doug Morton , director of the Chief of Naval Operations Energy and Environmental Readiness Division. “Our stewardship of the environment is a full time commitment. Our total force demonstrates this everyday on every ship and at each installation.”
Among the Earth Day-related events in which the Navy will participate for 2016 are a groundbreaking ceremony for a solar panel facility at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Mid-South; on April 16, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam participated in the Ahua Reef cleanup and held other base and shoreline cleanups throughout the month; on April 22 Naval Station Everett will host a dumpster dive; and Commander, Fleet Activities, Yokosuka will hold an Earth Day informational fair and tree planting activity.
The Pentagon will host an Earth Day speaker panel April 26 entitled, “Four DoD Perspectives on Climate Change,” featuring senior leaders from each service branch. Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations, and Environment) Dennis McGinn will represent the Department of Navy on the panel.
Former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin founded Earth Day in 1970 as a grassroots movement to raise awareness of environmental issues in the U.S. and worldwide.
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Image: US Navy