World Environment Day 2011

Go Green for your Gold Award

World Environment Day took place on 5^th June 2011 in order to combat climate change and the negative effects that go with it. The impacts of climate change are having a lasting impact on our environment and our lives. A number of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Participants around the world have taken the opportunity to tackle the issue of climate change and make a difference in their communities!

David Speirs, from Adelaide Australia restored a badly polluted river running through South East Adelaide with a public awareness campaign and by securing funds for conservation work as part of his Gold Award. David focused on practical works on the site, and with community engagement activities. As well as planting thousands of trees, shrubs and grasses. The group “Friends of the Lower Field River” connected with local schools, ran a successful youth forum, launched a website, produced 20,000 brochures and developed a strategic plan to guide the group’s vision.

Ryan Hreljac of Canada raised money to build wells in 16 developing countries, in doing this Ryan provided 640,000 people with safe drinking water and improved sanitation. In Pakistan, Asad Zaidi of Pakistan educated hundreds of local people on the effect they were having on the environment and encouraged positive action.

In Singapore, a number of Award Participants have been busy tackling environmental issues. 1,200 current Award Participants and 140 Gold Award holders celebrated World Earth Day on 23 April 2011 with a mass clean up of an East Coast Beach!

Award Participants from India have also been leading by example and have addressed environmental issues. HSBC India's partnership with The Kemri Conservation Project has given Gold Award participants from HSBC the opportunity to complete their Residential Projects on 'ecological restoration and community outreach'. The recent project saw 18 participants working at a project site near Udaipur, Rajasthan clearing the forest area, digging trenches to set pipelines and planting saplings. Aloysius Chrispin Franklin, a Gold participant, said that the project was 'an amazing time' for him where he got to interact with other 'motivated and passionate volunteers from different locations in India'. In addition, the different tasks gave him 'an entirely new perspective on climate change' and its effects.

Keeping all of this in mind, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award International Association along with other members of the Alliance of Youth CEO’s, joined together with UNICEF and other United Nations and Non-Governmental partners to produce a guide aimed to encourage young people to “take action now” to address the challenges of climate change.

Please feel free to visit The International Award website for more information, fantastic ideas and great suggestions on how you can positively impact the environment, prevent climate change and “take action now” while completing Your Award!