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Earth Day Network to Raise $10 Million to Plant 10 Million Trees

October 3, 2012

Earth Day Network to Raise $10 Million to Plant 10 Million Trees

Five-year Commitment to Global Poverty Project Will Focus on Areas With Extreme Poverty

NEW YORK – Earth Day Network today announced a commitment to raise $10 million over five years to plant 10 million trees in impoverished areas around the world. The announcement was made onstage at the Global Poverty Project’s Global Citizen Festival on the Great Lawn at Central Park.

“Forests and trees play an important role in alleviating world poverty, helping rural people avoid poverty and helping those that are poor mitigate their plight,” said Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day Network. “Earth Day Network is proud to join the Global Poverty Project and do our part to help end extreme poverty within a generation.”

The aim of the Global Poverty Project is to increase the number and effectiveness of those engaged in the fight against extreme poverty. The Global Citizen Festival took place on Central Park’s Great Lawn in front of tens of thousands of attendees and millions of broadcast viewers. It coincided with the UN General Assembly meeting in New York City. Each of the event’s nonprofit partners represents one of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals and made major commitments to further those goals.

“We were delighted that Earth Day Network chose to partner with us at the Global Citizen Festival to announce their important commitment,” said Hugh Evans, CEO of the Global Poverty Project. “Protecting the environment is critical in the work to end extreme poverty.”

The event also featured performances by Neil Young, Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, Band of Horses and K’Naan. The performers were joined by a host of celebrities and by luminaries in the movement to end extreme poverty around the world.

Earth Day Network’s Canopy Project has planted millions of trees in areas of the world most in need of reforestation. In addition to reversing the impacts of land degradation, the benefits of trees include providing food, energy and income, all enabling communities to achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Trees also sequester carbon dioxide and provide oxygen, filtering the air and helping stave off the effects of climate change.

“It’s the world’s poor who suffer the most from the effects of climate change and environmental degradation,” said Rogers. “But while those in poverty bear the brunt of these environmental problems, they contribute very little to the problems’ causes. That’s unjust, and we have to do something about it.”

To donate $5 to plant five trees in impoverished areas through Earth Day Network’s Canopy Project, go to http://bit.ly/SE5n6c. To learn more about the Global Poverty Project and the Global Citizen Festival, go to www.globalpovertyproject.org.

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Earth Day Network mobilizes over one billion people in 192 countries through year-round advocacy, education, public policy and consumer campaigns to protect the environment. archiveedn.wpengine.com