Earth Day Network Blog Updates

Earth Day Network understands that the fight to save the environment is a completely global effort. In preparation of Earth Day 2012, Earth Day Network has created the campaign Mobilize the Earth and will continue to work with individuals and organizations all around the world to promote A Billion Acts of Green®. To date, Earth Day Network has registered almost 500 million green actions, and the goal to reach One Billion before Rio+20 in June 2012.

The urgency of finding appropriate climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies for the long-run has become a major topic of concern across the globe. As the world has yet to agree on which strategies to adopt, cities and local governments have taken it upon themselves to do so.

A class action lawsuit of 30,000 Ecuadorians living in the Amazon rainforest has reached a major milestone in its litigation. An appeals court has upheld a 2011 ruling that the oil company Chevron pay 9.5 billion dollars for damage caused to the environment. The President of Ecuador, Raphael Correa is said to be pleased with the ruling.

On October 17, 2011, Karuna Singh, Country Director – India addressed a group of women leaders in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, on “Women and the Green Economy” (WAGE®).

Children's Day is celebrated in India on November 14, the birthday of the country's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was fondly known as Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru) by children. The day is specially celebrated at the school level all across India with children participating in community activities, sports and other fun filled programs. The spirit of Children’s Day or Bal Divas as it is popularly referred to in Hindi, reflects the nascent strength and growth of the nation.

Earth Day Network Country Director Singh spent three days visiting Santiniktan in Eastern India August 7-9, 2011.  Beginning with a presentation on Earth Day Network’s activities at the Center for Environment Studies at Viswabharati University, she went on to visit local tribal villages to better understand how they make the best (and often artistic) use of natural resources.

Last week, on December 4th, mayors and elected officials in Durban made history by joining together in the signing of the Durban Adaptation Charter for Local Governments. The charter was unanimously signed by more than 100 mayors and elected officials from across the globe, following intense negotiations in Durban’s Council Chambers.