Media Advisory

Earth Day Network and Angry Birds Get Angry About Climate Change

FOR RELEASE September 21, 2015:

From Earth Day Network and Rovio Entertainment

Earth Day Network and Angry Birds Get Angry About Climate Change
Champions for Earth Tournament launched during Climate Week educates players on climate 

SEPTEMBER 21: Earth Day Network (EDN),and Rovio Entertainment today released Angry Birds Champions for Earth, a  weeklong global tournament that challenges players to learn about and help solve the climate crisis. The tournament begins on Monday, September 21 and coincides with Climate Week NYC. Players can download and play in five languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Korean.

To create and promote the tournament, EDN partnered with UNFCCC, Connect4Climate (a Partnership Program of the World Bank), the documentary series Years of Living Dangerously, The Climate Reality Project, Water.org and UNEP.

Connect4Climate (C4C), the World Bank Group’s global community tasked with promoting solutions to climate change, provided translation into Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Korean. Lucia Grenna, Program Manager at Connect4Climate, said: “We motivate people to take on climate change by reaching them where they live. Incorporating climate change messages into the most popular video game ever is a great way to communicate with a broad and diverse audience.”

The Climate Reality Project provided the Climate Petition, the largest climate petition in the world demanding that world leaders sign a strong agreement at the Paris climate negotiation in December.

The tournament features special messages from global celebrities: Don Cheadle and Ian Somerhalder, Goodwill Ambassadors for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP); comedian Danny DeVito; Matt Damon, co-founder of Water.org;, Indian superstars Anil and Sonam Kapoor; and members of Korean pop sensation VIXX. During the game, these popular Champions invite Angry Birds players to compete against them on the leaderboard, share facts about climate change and encourage fans to take action.

Christiana Figueres, the UN’s top climate official and head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) narrated a video introducing The Champions for Earth, with the voices of these global stars.

Years of Living Dangerously helped develop content for the game’s fact-cards which educate the gamers about climate change. The Years Project also facilitated Ian Somerhalder’s participation.

The Hollywood Health and Society, a program at the Norman Lear Center of the University of Southern Californiahelped develop content for the game’s fact-cards as well, and assisted in bringing in celebrity spokespeople.

The India digital campaign was organized by Ogilvy & Mather India.

“What makes this project so special for us is how so many celebrities and organizations have come together, working for a common cause,” says Blanca Juti, Rovio’s Chief Brand Officer. “We are delighted and grateful for everyone’s cooperation in getting angry together to raise awareness and promote action on climate change.”

“We want to thank Angry Birds and all our partners” says Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network. “Mobile gaming is a powerful way to engage people of all ages—especially young people—in learning about climate change and becoming activists. We need everyone’s voices to be heard, especially as we get ready for the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris this November.”

During the tournament, players will learn about climate change through fact cards developed with climate experts from NASA, NOAA, Yale, USC, The White House, the Smithsonian and others. Players will be encouraged in five languages to take action via Earth Day Network’s online engagement platform, where they can sign the climate petition, sign up to plant trees, tweet at their elected officials, and share their passion with an #angryaboutclimatechange selfie.

Proceeds from the tournament go to support Earth Day Network’s Canopy Project, a global campaign to plant trees in communities impacted by poverty and climate change.

About Earth Day Network

The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network works year-round with tens of thousands of partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. For more information, please visit earthday.org.

Press Contact:
Yoav Magid
Earth Day Network
[email protected]
202.518.0044