- Earth Day Network – India and United Way India join hands for India Plog Run 2019
- Earth Day Network commits to save the planet through initiatives such as The Great Global Cleanup™ of which this will be a part
Earth Day Network, the global environmental organization that engages with over 50,000 organizations in around 195 countries announced its partnership with United Way India and Go Native for the India Plog Run 2019. This unique first-of-its-kind pan India initiative is to be held in 50 cities on October 2, 2019 in honor of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.
Karuna Singh, Regional Director, Earth Day Network – India and South-Asia said, “India Plog Run 2019 aligns with our vision and mission of The Great Global Cleanup™ that was launched in March 2019. The Great Global Cleanup™, aimed as the biggest environmental volunteer campaign, will bring together millions of people around the globe to create the largest coordinated volunteer event in history. The campaign will expand globally leading up to the 50 years of Earth Day next year in April 2020.”
Ms Singh added, “It is critical for the survival and well-being of humans to respect and nurture the environment. Our goal at Earth Day Network is to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement, driving action year-round. Earth Day Network does this through advocacy, education, public policy, and consumer campaigns. We are proud to partner for the India Plog Run 2019. It will help greatly in building awareness about the need to manage, and not litter waste, single-use plastic in particular.‘
Organized by United Way India in collaboration with Go Native, India Plog Run will have ploggers pick up plastic waste while jogging or walking through an established route in the locality of the participant’s choice. Its aim, as verbalized by Manish Michael, Chief Executive Officer of United Way is to bring together the most powerful stakeholders in environmental conservation and citizens to act against the littering of plastic and sensitize them towards this growing menace. Educating citizens about the conscious use and right disposal of plastic of plastic is critical’ he says. Manish further adds, ‘We are happy that Earth Day Network India has come forward to support our initiative and help us mobilize volunteers through their networks. This has boosted our determination and we hope that more organizations will take part to make Plog Run a grand success. We believe that Earth Day is every day and this is one of the ways we want to contribute towards our Mother Earth.’
Mr. Ramakrishna Ganesh, Convenor of the India Plog Run stated that plogging is a new concept in India and we hope to motivate our younger generations to tackle the problem of waste management at individual levels and also promote a healthy lifestyle, while at it. We think that governments and NGOs alone cannot solve this massive problem of waste and thus we thought of an innovative plogging run to generate interest among our citizens especially youth who are more interested in doing something different and unique. We hope that many young people come forward and support our initiative to make this an eventful day in the history of India.
