World’s Largest Environmental Service Campaign Reaches Halfway Point

Earth Day Network Collects 500 Million “Acts of Green”

WASHINGTON – The world’s largest environmental service campaign reached its halfway point today. A Billion Acts of Green®, a project of Earth Day Network, has now collected 500 million environmental actions from individuals, businesses, governments, and faith-based and civic organizations all over the world in what is being called a global referendum on the environment. Earth Day Network will use Earth Day – April 22, 2012 – as a springboard to reach its goal of one billion environmental actions by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro this June, and they are calling upon people everywhere to help make this important milestone a reality. It’s all part of the theme of Earth Day 2012: Mobilize the Earth™. In the face of national and international inaction to solve pressing environmental problems such as climate change, organizers of Earth Day events around the world are galvanizing the environmental movement and making world leaders take notice. “There are so many wonderful stories from this campaign, from the mother who started a recycling program in a small Louisiana town – to the guy who said that he broke up with his girlfriend because she wouldn’t recycle,” said Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network. “And once we reach a billion, we’re going to take all of them all to world leaders to show them the breadth of support for strong, coordinated action to protect the environment.” Even celebrities are pitching in. Director James Cameron and actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Edward Norton are a few of the many that have pledged acts of green. Notable actions are almost too numerous to name. Morocco pledged to plant one million trees.  In China, 10 universities participated in month-long efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of their communities. Two hundred Catholic congregations contributed 100,000 acts of green through local service projects. More than 40 government and village leaders in Afghanistan worked to implement recycling programs and educational programs about environmental sustainability. And the list is growing every day. “This campaign is so moving because it highlights what people, governments and organizations can do every day to protect the environment; it gives people a chance to stand up and be counted, and all those little actions add up to something big,” said Rogers. “It’s hard to ignore a billion actions.” The Billion Acts of Green campaign began in the months preceding Earth Day 2010, the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day. To learn more about the campaign and pledge an act of green, go to earthday.org/take-action.

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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