Credit: Finnish School of Kosovo / Takoradi International School / Scurtaria de Educación y Cultura
Call to Earth Day: Our Shared Home
Across the globe, people are taking a stand to protect Our Shared Home.
Editor’s Note: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.
By Nadia Leigh-Hewitson, Flo Cornall and Woojin Lee, CNN
On November 28, CNN celebrated Call to Earth Day 2023.
We partnered with schools, individuals, and organizations across the world to acknowledge the vital link between urban areas and nature.
By planting trees, collecting litter, sharing stories and protecting biodiversity, the Call to Earth community is leading the way to a more sustainable future.
Here, we look at just a few of the schools that took part, and how their efforts amplify the ongoing efforts of environmentalists worldwide.
For the third annual Call to Earth Day
More than 0 People participated worldwide
In at least 0 Countries
0 HOURS spent on activities for Call to earth day 2023
Call to Earth Day around the world
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These social posts are a selection of Call to Earth Day activities from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, curated by CNN.
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These students are protecting pockets of nature and wildlife in their cities. Credit: École Zahrat El-Ihsan / Doha British School Al Wakra
Urban jungle
In the city, it can be difficult to see how our actions affect remote and wild regions.
But as 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and cities are responsible for an estimated 75% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, it is crucial that city dwellers make protecting the environment a priority.
“We are hopeful that with increased attention and resources, the city will be able to preserve and expand its green spaces. This would not only benefit all residents but also foster a more sustainable and liveable urban environment.”
Zahrat El-Ihsan School, Lebanon
In built-up urban areas, green spaces offer a breath of fresh air for the environment, combating pollution, providing oxygen, and cooling the temperature. They also support biodiversity, allowing wildlife and city life to co-exist.
In Lebanon’s bustling capital, Beirut, the dense urban landscape includes high-rise buildings that tower over heritage architecture, and located in one of the oldest central neighborhoods is Zahrat El-Ihsan, established in 1880.
The school’s location means green spaces are somewhat limited, but not entirely absent.
Zahrat El-Ihsan was badly damaged by a huge explosion that ripped through central Beirut in 2022, and as part of reconstruction efforts the school established a small, but perfectly formed, “pocket forest.” It was the work of local architect Adib Dada in collaboration with SUGi, a rewilding organization that aims to reconnect people to nature by creating pockets of dense forestry in urban areas.
SUGi employs a technique developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s called the “Miyawaki method,” which densely packs together native species in a small space, resulting in rapid growth and biodiversity, which can transform city spaces. SUGi has used this method in 27 countries to create nearly 200 pocket forests and Zahrat El-Ihsan’s was one of three that Dada set up in Beirut schools.
Souha Choueiri, Zahrat El-Ihsan's principal, says the pocket forest provides a refreshing escape from the concrete jungle surrounding the school.
For Call to Earth Day 2023, students at Zahrat El-Ihsan learned more about their school’s pocket forest which helps clean the city air, promote biodiversity and provide much-needed shade. The entire school also participated in additional activities such as composting food waste, installing bird feeders and making pledges to protect the environment.
“We are incredibly proud of our students for their commitment to environmental protection. We believe their actions will help create a more sustainable future for all,” said Choueiri.
The school plans to take what it learned from Call to Earth Day to do more to help the environment, including establishing a school greenhouse so it can grow fresh produce, and participating in regular cleanups of the school grounds and nearby neighborhoods.
“We can make a significant contribution to reducing our school’s environmental impact and foster a culture of sustainability among our students, staff and the wider community,” said Choueiri.
“Together, we can create a more sustainable future for all.”
Here’s what the Call to Earth community did:
more than 0 Trees were planted
0 Events held in urban centers
0 Wildlife havens built
These students at Escuela Secundaria Enriqueta Echarte de Silva García are using their voices to bring communities together and speak out about protecting our environment. Credit: Scurtaria de Educación y Cultura
Sound of the suburbs
Semi-rural areas, such as town and city green belts and the suburbs, are often important for wildlife, carbon sequestration and flood protection.
But urban sprawl is expanding around the world, encroaching into farmland, forests and other land. Protecting these spaces can help prevent a decline in biodiversity, which is why it’s key that people living in these semi-rural areas make their voices heard.
“We can all be more respectful of the environment.”
Escuela Secundaria Enriqueta Echarte de Silva García, Mexico
Escuela Secundaria Enriqueta Echarte de Silva García, a school in Comala, a suburb of Colima in western Mexico, celebrated Call to Earth Day with a series of musical performances.
One of their chosen songs was from an animated film titled “Pachamama.” “It is a tribute to Mother Earth, [a] thank you for everything that she gives us,” said music teacher David Emanual Nuñez Olórzano of the song.
Their performance was accompanied by sign language choreography from the students. By performing live to an audience, they sent an important message: that we all have a duty to care for the Earth.
Speaking up and advocating for the environment is a powerful way to drive change. It can raise awareness, influence policymakers to implement eco-friendly programs and encourage others to adopt sustainable practices.
Art can be a powerful way to make yourself heard, and through its performances, Escuela Secundaria Enriqueta Echarte de Silva García joins the many people around the world who have been using the arts to advocate for the environment.
One of them is Oscar Olivares, a 26-year-old professional artist who turns bottle caps destined for landfill into giant eco-murals.
Two years ago in Guatire, a town 30 minutes from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, Olivares and thousands of volunteers created a mural that covers 385 square meters, using 400,000 bottle caps out of the 1 million collected by the residents of Guatire and neighboring towns. The piece depicts a flurry of macaws and Guatire’s mountains.
“It’s very exciting because people are learning how they can reuse and recycle,” Olivares said. “Maybe there are people [who] don’t understand how they can make a difference but when they see, it [creates] a huge impact.”
Here’s what the Call to Earth community did:
more than 0 Artworks made
0 Poems written
0 Performances
Turning trash to treasure, these students are finding ways to protect our shared spaces. Credit: Finnish School of Kosovo / Takoradi International School
Countryside clean-up
In rural areas, the effects of environmental damage can be stark, from green spaces stripped bare for new development, to beaches clogged with plastics.
Only around 9% of plastics are recycled globally each year and more than 17 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2021, a figure that is projected to double or triple by 2040.
But with the right actions, countries could reduce plastic pollution by 80% in less than two decades.
“We only have one world, and we need to protect it.”
Washingborough Academy, UK
In the UK, among the Lincolnshire countryside, Washingborough Academy is surrounded by rivers and woods. Not only does the school have its very own allotment, polytunnel and apple orchard, it also has chickens and beehives.
On top of that, it has a sustainability action group on hand to protect the green spaces in and around the school. Guardians of Earth is made up of children aged three to 11 years old who meet up on a regular basis to turn their ideas into action, with projects addressing everything from food waste to sustainable packaging.
For Call to Earth Day 2023, Guardians of Earth asked students and their families to participate in a multitude of eco-activities, including collecting bags full of waste from the local area and creating collages from found materials. They also held an assembly for the entire school about the importance of protecting the environment.
“They will see how their voice and actions can have a positive impact,” said Emma Revill, a teacher and international lead at Washingborough Academy.
“We can all help the local environment together.”
Though it’s always better to stop pollution at the source, litter picking is a simple but impactful way to care for the environment, preventing trash from harming wildlife, polluting waterways and damaging plant life.
Schools like Washingborough Academy are helping by cleaning up their local area, but there are environmentalists around the world who have been working for years to solve our plastic problem one piece at a time.
Twenty-eight-year-old Vivek Gurav has been raising environmental awareness through “plogging” and “playaking” – combining litter picking with jogging and kayaking.
Over the last 10 years, Gurav, along with 1 million volunteers, has picked up over 1 million kilograms of litter across India, and now the UK.
In December 2022, he took plogging on a nationwide UK tour, visiting 30 cities in just 30 days, earning him an invitation to visit Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and an opportunity to speak at the youth version of the COP climate conference, COY17.
Now, Gurav says he sees change happening, with the next generation ready to protect our planet.
“Where we see eco-anxiety amongst schoolkids and younger generations, this is the form of action that brings climate optimism – I see things changing for a better future,” Gurav said.
Here’s what the Call to Earth Community did:
more than 0 Litter picks
Almost 0 tons of litter picked up
Approximately 0 square meters cleaned up
“Earth is the planet we live on, And we must look after it wisely. Ready to save all living things. To be aware of the things we need. Helping others to see the planet needs us.”
