ROME. Volunteers from dozens of countries around the world were to plant trees, clean up litter on beaches and call on the world’s governments to do more to combat climate change, noting Today is Earth Day. However, at the same time, the scientific community is warning of even more extreme weather events and record temperatures in 2023.

Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22 in more than 190 countries, including environmental action last week in the participating countries, and major festivals opened yesterday in Rome and Boston.

Thousands of citizens were expected to gather in central London today to hold symbolic protests organized by the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion, whose figure is Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. A major environmental demonstration will take place in the US capital today, the organizers of which are calling on President Joe Biden to commit to permanently phasing out fossil fuels.

Volunteers were supposed to start a massive clean-up operation at Dal Lake outside Srinagar city in India this morning. American volunteers yesterday were supposed to take over the removal of materials from the beaches of Cape Coral in Florida, which were hit by a devastating tropical storm in the fall.

On Thursday, US President Biden vowed to boost public funding for the developing world to take action against climate change. Among these programs is the fight against illegal logging in the Amazon rainforest. Biden announced these plans during a conference of the largest economies in the world.

In his speech at the above-mentioned conference, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that “a qualitative leap in climate action is needed” if the increase in the average temperature of the planet does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius. “The world seems determined to destroy itself,” the UN chief warned in a video message.

Today’s Earth Day has been preceded by weeks of extreme weather in various parts of the world. In Thailand, temperatures reached 45.4 degrees Celsius and in India, 13 people died of heatstroke at a religious ceremony over the weekend. Scientists warn that these deadly heatwaves threaten India’s agricultural production as well as the health of the country’s population. Global temperatures are expected to set new records this year, due in part to the occasional El Niño weather event.