Earth Day 2011 Celebrations in Times Square to "ReGreen the World"
A texting campaign to plant trees presented by Green World Campaign and Earth Day New York
(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) New York, NY - APRIL 20, 2011 - On Earth Day, Friday April 22, the Green World Campaign, in partnership with Earth Day New York, will launch an initiative to “ReGreen the World.” Earth Day New York will dedicate a full hour of its live programming and public service time on its Times Square partner screens to the Green World Campaign’s innovative cell phone initiative inviting people to "text TREE" to fund global tree-planting. This work supports the United Nations Year of Forests 2011.
For the past 21 years, Earth Day New York has produced the largest Earth Day events in the City including their 40th Anniversary celebrations in Times Square and Grand Central in 2010. This year’s events in the same venues will run from April 21st through April 23rd. “The Green World Campaign’s initiative is one of our most exciting activities in celebration of Earth Day 2011,” said Pamela Lippe, Executive Director of Earth Day New York. “We hope to engage a broad segment of the public and show that even a small contribution can really make a difference.”
Spectators will experience the Green World Campaign’s dazzling motion graphics of vivid leaves and branches swirling across Times Square screens operated by Toshiba, NASDAQ, Reuters, MTV, CBS and CNN, turning the urban environment into a virtual forest at regular intervals.
By way of the same “text2give” technology successfully used by the Red Cross for Haitian relief, people in Times Square and around the country will be invited to “text TREE to 85944” to plant trees in environmentally damaged areas of the world. A one-time donation of $5 will be debited from their cell phone bill to fund the planting of five trees on degraded land from Kenya to Mexico. This will help restore the ecology and economy of some of the world’s poorest places (and take a bite out of CO2-driven climate change).
Between 12pm and 1pm, the cumulative number of trees being funded via “text TREE” donations will be periodically displayed in real-time on the Toshiba screens. Public service announcements will begin on partnering screens as early as 6am. Earth Day New York will further promote the Green World Campaign with a dedicated focus on their tree planting efforts between 12 noon and 1pm at Duffy Square (Broadway bet. 46th and 47th).
Donations received by throughout Earth Day celebrations will be used to plant trees in nations such as Kenya, which is currently reduced to a tragic 2% forest cover. Planting new trees has both environmental and social benefits including soil revitalization, increased biodiversity, reduction of atmospheric CO2, and economic self-sufficiency for struggling communities.
The Earth Day New York event kicks off a year-long “text TREES’ initiative by the Green World Campaign that aims to double the organization’s tally of nearly half a million trees in 6 countries. Says Green World Campaign founder Marc Barasch: “This is more than another ‘awareness campaign,’ but a novel use of new media to make tangible change and, as our slogan says, ‘ReGreen the World.’”
Green World Campaign-produced screen content includes a PSA designed and donated by leading ad agency David & Goliath (L.A., Frankfurt, London) and Stockholm-based FilmTecknarna. Production was funded by a grant from the U.K.-based CBD Charitable Trust. Technical coordination of this complex project will be overseen by Tal Yarden, a leading New York video designer and multimedia programmer. Project partners include EarthWays Foundation, CauseCast, the One Spirit Learning Alliance, Culture Shock Marketing, the Streaming Museum, Iva Kaufmann & Associates, Greg Roach & Spirit Quest World and Imagination, Inc.
About The Green World Campaign:
The Green World Campaign (www.greenworld.org) is a 501(c)3 non-profit with a bold agenda: ReGreen the World. Through agro-forestry (a method of planting of trees and food-crops together in “forest gardens”) and reforestation of indigenous woodlands, the Green World Campaign helps to turn ecologically degraded lands green again. Planting trees helps to restore the health of our shared biosphere and the harmony of the global village. The GWC connects those who want to create a more just and sustainable world with on-the-ground projects in Kenya, Mexico, Ethiopia, the Philippines, and India. The GWC was founded 5 years ago by Marc Ian Barasch (http://ow.ly/4zuPV), a producer of global environmental TV specials and the bestselling author of The Compassionate Life (www.compassionatelife.com). He and his work are featured in “I Am,” a top 10 indie film now playing in select theaters (http://ow.ly/4zv9S). He serves on U.N. committee for the Year of Forests 2011. More information on The Green World Campaign can be found at www.greenworld.org
Follow GWC on:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/greenworldcampaign
Twitter: twitter.com/texttree and twitter.com/regreentheworld
Tumblr: greenworldcampaign.tumblr.com
Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/greenworld
About Earth Day New York:
Earth Day New York (EDNY) was founded in late 1989 by a broad coalition of environmental groups to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Earth Day in New York City. In 1990, EDNY mobilized two million people to attend Earth Day’s 20th Anniversary events in Times Square, on the Avenue of the Americas and a major concert in Central Park. For the past eight years, Earth Day New York has hosted EarthFair at Grand Central, a two‐day festival of art, music and the environment on Vanderbilt Avenue and in Vanderbilt Hall inside the majestic Beaux‐Arts Terminal and added events in Times Square for the 40th Anniversary in 2010. Earth Day New York is a low-overhead, broadly educational non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes environmental awareness and solutions through a three-pronged program: 1) involving schools, teachers and students through the Earth Day Education Program; 2) educating public and private policymakers through conferences and publications; and, 3) involving the general public in annual Earth Day events. More information on Earth Day New York can be found at www.earthdayny.org.
