A Billion Acts of Green

A new initiative has sprung up worldwide through the Earth Day Network to promote conscious participation in Earth Day, called "A Billion Acts of Green."  The idea is to charge up a people-powered campaign to generate a billion acts of environmental service and advocacy before the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  You can go to the website to find green events to participate in, tips on green actions of your own to take, and you can register your acts of green so they count towards the billion count.  As of today, there have been over 115 MILLION submitted!


Social networking have been a very powerful tool for banding people around and educating the global community about important issues that effect all of us...including global climate change and sustainability education.  We were especially inspired by the conversation on the global acts of green website, where individuals everywhere talked about their Acts of Green - solutions for a greener earth.  Here were some of our favorites:

"Here is a good story for Earth Day: An old man was planting a tree, then somebody asked him why he plants that which he cannot live long enough to enjoy its fruit. The old man answered; 'just as my grandparents planted a tree to which I've been nourished, so I plant for my grandchildren.' So people should not be merely "cutters" of trees but should plant them for the next generation to enjoy."

"Earth day! Pledge an act of green! My daughter's pledge is that she will use both sides of the paper to draw on."

"do not throw or change your household articles for the sake of changing...do it when u need it."

"'Use it up, wear it out, make do our do without.' That's what my Grandma did. She lived through the Great Depression and she passed on some good lessons to me. I see the Throw Away Generation misusing just about everything. Where did the lesson get lost?"

"Greetings on EarthDay!  My pledge today is to continue save and conserve resources & continue educating people about individual green actions.  I am celebrating the day with students in remote mountain village in Kashmir, India."

These are some great ideas - planting trees, reducing consumption and reusing and recycling, and educating those around us.  Join in the conversation by commenting on our blog below and on the Billion Acts of Green page here!