From the 20th to the 30th of April, students, teachers, families, companies and more participated in 10 days of individual and collective actions for the environment!
The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) operates five programmes focused on promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through environmental education and eco-tourism. Apart from the day-to-day activities that contribute to the creation of a worldwide network, the strategic goal GAIA 20:30 was developed to further guide FEE's work and address three critical environmental issues: climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution.
As part of the GAIA 20:30 strategy, this year's #GlobalActionDays engaged our global network in actions for the protection, restoration and celebration of global biodiversity.
With 1312 registrations and over 150,000 participants from 73 countries, this year's Global Action Days has been the largest yet!
Occurring over 10 days, the campaign invited participants to join in five actions for biodiversity! From Nature Dipping to Having a Green Party, these actions aimed to raise awareness and discover new ways of being positively involved in the protection and restoration of global biodiversity. Participants shared their work via social media and on the Treasure Earth app with the Global Action Days hashtags: #GlobalActionDays #MyActionsMatter #LitterLessCampaign #GAIA2030 #GenerationRestoration.
Action 1 – Nature Dipping! A 10-minute walk in a green space to relax, breathe, and listen to the surroundings.
Action 2 – Nature Detectives! Getting outside to identify some native plants and wildflowers from the country or region.
Action 3 – Life in Danger! Choosing an endangered species and thinking about a way to help raise awareness about it in the local community.
Action 4 – Look for Labels! Taking a look around the kitchen to see how many environmental labels it's possible to find on food-products.
Action 5 – Have a Green Party! Pulling on a green outfit and engaging in a collective action : joining a litter pick, planting native flowers, or building an insect hotel.
Great initiatives from this year's Global Action Days!
Second grade students from Green Oaks School in Mexico and their teachers participated in Global Action Days by organising a beach clean-up! As part of their Social Service activities, the clean-up aimed to raise awareness among students about caring for the environment. As part of the global Eco-Schools programme, this activity strengthened the environmental awareness of their school community.
An amazing Green Party was organised for Kindergarten students of the J-Trail Department at Aljazari International Schools of Science and Technology in Istanbul! The Action 5 of Global Action Days was well celebrated in this school with flower planting and nature exploration. With this "Forest in Schools" party, they wanted to raise awareness for the international movement and to strengthen the relations between students and nature.
The FEE Head Office participated in #GlobalActionDays too!
To celebrate Global Action Days, the staff of the FEE Head Office in Copenhagen organised a litter-picking Green Party around the office! In 1.5 hours, our staff managed to fill over three large bags of garbage! A large quantity of cigarette butts were also collected and sorted separately. During the litter pick-up, staff also participated in a biodiversity scavenger hunt where they had to find and identify native plant and insect species as part of Action 2. The Green Party was a great opportunity to reduce the litter in our environment and reflect on how it negatively impacts the local biodiversity, while also helping us reconnect with the nature right outside the office door!
