Does this scene breathe Earth Day to you?
UPDATE: 02/05/2013 As I mentioned below NASCAR entered into Earth Day/Week, no they went for a month and “150,000+ — Estimated number of trees planted during NASCAR Race to Green events in April. Seventeen of NASCAR’s official partners donated trees or pledged to plant trees throughout the year as part of the month-long initiative ( NASCAR ).” reported on Street & Smith’s Sports Business Daily.
If you’re out of the loop and unaware of Earth Day here’s a brief history:
The first Earth Day saw 20 million Americans turn out on April 22, 1970. This event launched the modern environmental movement and this special day also spurred on the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water and Air Acts and numerous other environmental laws were created. The evolution of the first Earth Day now sees 22,000 partners in 192 countries actively involved and coordinated by the Earth Day Network (EDN). 1 billion people take part on this auspicious occasion now, making it the worlds largest community activity.
A few days after I wrote about Earth Day 2013 in my blog titled Do you go GREEN for special events? I’ve been reading about the enormous amount of activities going on a round the world celebrating this special day.
But I’m left wondering! My idea of this day is obviously drastically different from many others. Through my media alert systems I have been trawling through the diverse range of events that have taken or still to take place. From cups of tea around a flower arrangement to the radical National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) race circuit.
Now at first reading some of the blurbs looked like “green wash” to me but then I thought hang on a minute it really depends on how hard core you want to be. After studying the ISO 20121 for sustainable event management systems since June last year I’ve learnt that sustainability is in the eye of the beholder. You can go hard and all the way but you can also attempt and dabble which is ok too…at least you’re trying to make positive change.
So if you’ve promoted your event as green for Earth Day it only needs to be a little bit green to be worthwhile. I’m sure there are probably some events out there that have no environmental benefits but hey I haven’t come across any, so good on you people 🙂 And next year try to go that extra step, maybe do a bit of research of what others are doing and incorporate their ideas.
For more from the blog
Climate Wave Enterprises – working with the planet
