WHAT'S THE STORY?
World Cleanup Day on 19 September 2020 united 11 million people across 166 countries. All these environmental heroes came out despite the challenges of 2020. Since 2018, World Cleanup Day has brought together millions of people for the biggest waste collection day in human history. In 2018, 17.6 million and in 2019, 21.2 million environment heroes joined in on an epic 36-hour green wave of cleanups across the globe – beginning in New Zealand and traveling around the world before ending in Hawaii. Watch the video if you don’t believe it!
World Cleanup Day on 19 September 2020 united more than 11 million people in 166 countries. On that day volunteers and partners worldwide again came together, despite the special requirements and many restrictions of Covid-19, to rid our planet of trash – cleaning up litter and mismanaged waste from our beaches, rivers, forests, and streets.
World Cleanup Day harnesses the power of people around the world to achieve incredible things by joining together. Its beauty lies in cooperation and collaboration: building bridges between disparate communities, and including all levels of society – from citizens to business, to government.
HOW?
Let’s Do It World (LDIW) is a global organization that unites more than 150 countries. World Cleanup Day is the biggest event organized by LDIW. Each country has a leader or a group of leaders, who work day and night, often as volunteers, to mobilize the people in their countries for World Cleanup Day. Leaders come from all walks of life – strong women defying societal boundaries, environmentalists fighting for a better tomorrow, organizations uniting concerned citizens. Each country is affected by the mismanaged waste in different ways. In some, waste is an issue managed by the government; in some, waste is something that the majority of the population is surrounded by; in others, waste and recycling provides thousands of jobs; in some, mismanaged waste is not such a huge issue and in some countries, mismanaged waste is a matter of life and death.
Each country addresses the issues surrounding waste that are most pressing for them. LDIW provides guidance, advice and leadership skills for anyone willing to commit time to the cause. The incredible people leading these 180 countries are nothing short of being heroes of our time.
THE CATCH?
There isn’t one. The sad reality is that the human race needed David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg, images of birds strangled by plastic and sealife filled with cotton swabs, to wake up to what’s surrounding us.
The millions united by LDIW are a fraction of the world that care enough to take action. A simple action of picking up trash. These people care for the future. They can look beyond differences and work for keeping what unites us – our common home.
This is not a dressing down, nor is it finger-pointing or prophesying a doomsday. It is about positive collaboration, the spirit of unity and most importantly, getting something done for the planet and the realization that we need planet Earth with its resources more than it needs us.
IN SUMMARY,
Let’s Do It World has never been purely about cleaning up trash. Our vision is a clean and healthy waste free planet. We tackle the environmental challenges related to the mismanaged solid waste crisis by mobilizing millions of positive-minded people into coordinated local and global actions.
We see waste as simply a mismanaged resource. Through our activities and campaigns, we aim to create a shift towards better management of resources and inspire towards smarter choices in design, production, and consumption. It also works to raise global awareness and implement lasting changes to end the global waste epidemic, once and for all.
Let’s Do It World has five tenets it relies on:
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Cooperation: we are open to individuals and organizations from the public sector, corporations and civil society who believe that waste does not belong in nature. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
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Positivity: we look for solutions, instead of pointing fingers. We focus on creating positive change and on finding solutions to “trash blindness”.
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Leadership – changes happen in people and through people. Anyone can be a leader and develop as a leader. We are looking to empower a new generation of leaders that aims to create a waste-free world by working locally and cooperating globally.
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Technology: we are adding smart tech and engineering ingenuity to motivated volunteer power.
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Fun: mobilizing millions of people around the world to clean their communities and have fun while doing it is instrumental to the solution and to the effort to keep our planet clean.
If you, too, want to get involved in this global effort to make our home a cleaner place, please contact a representative BELOW.
