The first-ever Call to Earth Day might be coming to a close, but the work continues! We’ll keep covering the environmental challenges facing our planet – and while these issues can sometimes feel vast and overwhelming, it’s important to remember that there are solutions and people who are working to create a more sustainable future.
Ours is a planet worth protecting!
In Monrovia, California, Santa Fe Computer Science Magnet School’s principal Geoff Zamarripa wants his students to understand their connection and responsibility to the environment.
CNN’s Stephanie Elam reports on how students there are getting involved to protect the planet on Call to Earth Day.
Coral reefs are crucial to our oceans, but with warmer waters, they are at risk of disappearing. As part of Call to Earth Day, Coral Gardeners – a group that began on an island in French Polynesia back in 2017 – is raising awareness about the protection of coral reefs.
By working with scientists, engineers and advocates to stop the degradation, the group grows super corals and replants them to rebuild and restore coral reefs around the world.
In College Park, Maryland, these university students are drawing their way to a cleaner future by illustrating their favorite ways to go green across campus – including taking shorter showers and opting for reusable straws and bags.
The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world. The Sustainable Fashion Community Center in New York City opened up this year with the aim of promoting more eco-friendly attire.
As part of Call to Earth Day, CNN’s Athena Jones reports from their sustainable fashion show in Harlem.
And don’t forget to share how you’re participating today, using #CallToEarth.
Rolex Laureate Miranda Wang is giving plastic trash a new life through her upcycling company Novoloop, which uses a soil-based bacteria capable of breaking down plastic for reuse.
She spoke with CNN’s Richard Quest about how we can solve one of today’s largest environmental problems.
Call to Earth is a CNN initiative in partnership with Rolex.
In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, these high school students painted a mural celebrating Call to Earth Day, while also paying tribute to a local artist who dedicated his work to climate activism.
In Los Angeles, California, middle school students also painted a mural that advocates for the need to conserve water.
And in Querétaro, Mexico, students created a mural as a reminder of the natural beauty around them. The students who participated were excited to create their art and celebrate the environment on Call to Earth Day.
It’s a big problem haunting our seas, yet there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of it. Called “ghost gear” or “ghost nets,” these abandoned pieces of equipment are a serious threat to marine life.
In Hong Kong, meet a retired businessman and diving enthusiast trying to clean up the water – one net at a time.
Environmental activist Philippe Cousteau, grandson of famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, has set a goal to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030 through his conservation organization, EarthEcho.
Cousteau, along with EarthEcho’s Youth Leadership Council Member, Armon Alex, told CNN’s Hala Gorani how the non-profit is empowering the next generation to restore the ocean.
In Zimbabwe, these students wrote and performed a short show called “The Story of a Plastic Water Bottle.” They hope the story will have a happy ending if people can continue to reduce, reuse and recycle together.
All across the globe, students, organizations and individuals have been making the first-ever Call to Earth Day a huge success. Here are some more highlights from the day so far!
To eliminate food spoilage due to a lack of cold storage at key points within Nigeria’s food supply chain, Rolex Awards Laureate Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu’s company, ColdHubs, offers 100% solar-powered cool rooms capable of working off the grid.
Call to Earth is a CNN initiative in partnership with Rolex.
CNN’s Becky Anderson spoke to students from Brighton College Dubai about how they are making eco-friendly choices in the classroom.
In Paarl, South Africa, organic winemaker Tyrrel Myburgh farms grapes in the Western Cape without modern, artificial irrigation. In drought-prone South Africa, where water can be scarce, using only rainwater to water drought-resistant grapevines is a radical step, as is allowing “a bit of a jungle” to grow among the vines, which are pruned and fertilized by free-roaming sheep.
CNN’s David McKenzie visited the Joostenberg Winery, which has been producing wine for hundreds of years in the Western Cape, to see how it’s going back to basics to meet the climate challenges of the future.
In Rwanda, gray crowned cranes were almost wiped out a decade ago. Captured as chicks and kept as status symbol pets in the gardens of hotels and private homes, by 2012, only around 300 remained in the wild.
But the species has undergone a remarkable recovery in the country thanks to local vet and conservationist Olivier Nsengimana. “I told myself someone has got to do something about it,” he says. “Someone has got to make a change.”
For Call to Earth Day, Rolex Awards Laureate Nsengimana tells us he wants to end the illegal trade in the rare bird.
Call to Earth is a CNN initiative in partnership with Rolex.
The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation is a global non-profit dedicated to planting trees for a “greener, cleaner, and healthier planet.”
Their mission is to plant 18 billion fruit trees across the world to help spread vital edible eco-diversity. As part of Call to Earth Day, the group is planting trees across four continents.
Students at the University of Seychelles raise their hands and recite a pledge to protect the planet, including a promise to use more green energy.
One-third of the food we produce ends up as waste, according to the UN’s FAO. One waste-management startup in Lebanon saw this predicament as an opportunity to repurpose the country’s biowaste into fertilizer.
CNN’s Becky Anderson spoke to Marc Aoun, CEO of Compost Baladi, about the benefits of using compost to fuel the future of agriculture.
Nyombi Morris decided that instead of just talking about climate change, he would be part of the solution. He has been buying seeds and native plants from community gardens and local gardeners, to begin reforesting his native Uganda, which has lost much of its forests over the last century.
This year, the 23-year-old has organized tree-planting events around the country, helping to plant over 7,000 trees. He has also worked with 13 schools to teach children about the dangers of damaging the environment. For Call to Earth Day, Morris and a group of volunteers planted 500 trees in the city of Jinja, in southern Uganda.
Spanning three countries, the Gran Chaco is the second-largest forest in South America, rich with biodiversity. But it seemed like “nobody was taking care of it,” says conservation biologist and Rolex Awards Laureate Erika Cuéllar.
So she began taking an original approach to restoration, enlisting local people and giving them technical training to become “parabiologists” – like paramedics, she says, but for nature.
On a special Call to Earth Day edition of Connect the World, CNN’s Becky Anderson spoke with Cuéllar to learn more about her work in the Gran Chaco.
Call to Earth is a CNN initiative in partnership with Rolex.
Read more about Cuéllar’s work with the indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco.
