Estonian civic movement announces plan to clean up entire planet in single day
5. Feb 2016
Latest news:
Let's Do It! movement that began in Estonia in 2008 and has since organized campaigns in 112 countries, involving 14,5 million people, has announced it will hold a worldwide cleanup day on September 8, 2018.
"In 2018, we intend to engage 150 countries and 5 percent of the world’s population — that’s 380 million people — for one big WorldCleanupDay," the organizers said.
The ambitious plan was first revealed in ETV's "Pealtnägija" on Wednesday evening.
The organizing committee is currently looking to recruit leaders from 150 countries to run the nationwide cleanups and has launched a crowd-funding appeal in Indiegogo. They are looking to raise at least 150,000 euros of seed money at this stage.
"Let’s Do It! has never been only about waste. It’s about people,” the organizers said. “We’ve invested 43,5 million hours of voluntary work to build teams, plan logistics, organize cleanups, and so on. Every 100 euros raised helps to bring five new volunteers to a cleanup day."
"Our experience from many countries has shown we can bring real change, and fast, if a massive amount of people are mobilized for one positive cause. It’s all about ambition, action, cooperation and positivity," Let's Do It! activists said.
The Let's Do It! movement began in Estonia in 2008 when 50,000 people came together and cleaned up their entire country in five hours, removing 10,000 tonnes of waste. Citizens of many countries have joined forces to clean up their countries in one day. Massive Let's Do It! campaigns have been taking place in Latvia (210,000 people), Lithuania (250,000), Portugal (100,000), Slovenia (270,000), Romania (250,000), Albania (147,000), Hungary (200,000), Bulgaria (375,000), Ukraine (500,000), India (54,000), the Philippines (28,000) and in many other countries over the years.
