April 22 is here again, that time of year when we collectively remember the Earth exists. Timelines turn green, captions grow philosophical, and suddenly everyone is deeply invested in melting glaciers while sipping iced coffee from plastic cups with paper straws. Earth Day has become an annual ritual.

Offices organise tree-planting drives, saplings are planted with enthusiasm and abandoned with equal efficiency. Schools produce posters of a half-green, half-crying Earth. We are reminded to carry a cloth bag for our groceries, to turn off the tap and refuse a straw. It is a different story in the rest of the year. Air conditioners hum with impunity, and plastic bags slip into our daily lives without much resistance. Convenience resumes its rightful place.

Individual actions matter. Carrying reusable bags, saving water, and refusing single-use plastic are steps in the right direction. But presenting them as solutions to a crisis of this scale is misleading. Urban planning, industrial regulation, waste management systems, and energy policies play a far more decisive role in determining environmental solutions.

Earth Day would mean more if it forced a conversation beyond April 22, rather than returning to business as usual on April 23. The problem is that we have learned to care very briefly.

Text and photographs by Prerna Delhi.