A conversation with citygoers reveals the significance of climate change

Caleb Cortez

Is Earth Day still valued by Boston residents? At Boston Common on the 22nd day of April, many said the day held little value for them. However, this does not mean the health of the Earth has no significance in their lives.

John Parker, an older man from Boston, stated that Earth Day was not important to him while playing with his dog. He did, on the other hand, value the discussion of climate change. 

“It's the future, my children, my grandchildren, everything.” Parker preserves the environment by “gardening, picking up trash, you know, being respectful of the earth.”

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Leynard Herbert, a Blackstone High School student from Brazil, had a similar view. “I don't really care to be honest.” Nonetheless, he agreed that climate change was important. “I don't want it getting hot in places that are supposed to be cold, and I don't want it getting cold in places that are supposed to be hot.” 

He continues to contemplate ways to help the environment. “To be honest, I tried recycling for some time, but then I found out that doesn't really matter. It either gets burned or buried in the ground. So what I really try to do is not waste a lot. I used to use a lot of, like, plastic cups and forks and everything. But then just stop using that much trash. I started using things that I can wash and use it again.”

Jack Coyne, an employee of Planned Parenthood advocating for funding in Common, also struggled with the importance of Earth Day. When asked if Earth Day meant anything to him, he said, “Sort of. Sure. I would say the Earth is important to me. The sort of symbolic gesture of doing Earth Day feels … liberal, I guess. In a derogatory way. In the sense that ‘oh, great, we'll have one day where we acknowledge the problems,’ but also you're not acknowledging the problems; you are doing a fetishization of the Earth as an object for one day, and then you don't carry that with you.”

Despite the general consensus that few people care about the holiday, Izzy Davies, a girl from London sitting on a bench with her friend, said Earth Day was special to her. Davies, spending her first day in America, also added that climate change was too. 

“Yeah, it makes me angry that it affects our generation, future generations more, and then it's older generations that don't do things about it, but it’s important for the future of everyone on the planet.” 

Davies arrived in America on Tuesday to visit a friend. “It shocked me how much plastic and everything is still in use. Still in 2026 … [I’m] very big into recycling. I try to eat vegetarian as much as possible.”