The Clean Up Story
In 1989 an 'average Australian bloke' had a simple idea to make a difference in his own backyard - Sydney Harbour.
This simple idea has now become the nation's largest community-based environmental event, Clean Up Australia Day.
It is hard to believe that this campaign began as the inspiration of one man, Australian builder and solo yachtsman, Ian Kiernan.
As an avid sailor, Ian had always dreamed about sailing around the world.
In 1987 his dream came true when he competed in the BOC Challenge solo around-the-world yacht race.
As he sailed through the oceans of the world in his yacht 'Spirit of Sydney' he was shocked and disgusted by the pollution and rubbish that he continually encountered in areas such as the Sargasso Sea in the Caribbean.
Having waited years to see the Sargasso's legendary long golden weeds, Ian's excited anticipation turned to anger and disappointment when he found them polluted and tangled with rubbish.
The polluted state of the world's oceans motivated Ian to act.
Once back in Sydney Ian organised a community event with the support of a committee of friends, including Clean Up co founder Kim McKay AO - Clean Up Sydney Harbour.
What happened after this is now well documented.
Clean Up Sydney Harbour Day in 1989 received an enormous public response with more than 40,000 Sydneysiders donating their time and energy to clean up the harbour.
Rusted car bodies, plastics of all kinds, glass bottles and cigarette butts were removed by the tonne.
The idea of a clean up day had ignited an enthusiasm and desire among the community to get involved and make a difference to their local environment themselves.
The next year Clean Up Australia Day was born. Ian and his committee believed that if a capital city could be mobilised into action, then so could the whole nation.
Almost 300,000 volunteers turned out on the first Clean Up Australia Day in 1990 and that involvement has steadily increased ever since.
In the past 20 years, Australians have devoted more than 24 million hours towards the environment through Clean Up Australia Day and collected over 200,000 tonnes of rubbish.
The next step for Ian and Kim was to take the concept of Clean Up Australia Day to the rest of the world.
After gaining the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Clean Up the World was launched in 1993.
In its inaugural year, Clean Up the World involved approx. 30 million people in 80 countries.
The appeal of Clean Up the World (more than 35 million people from 120 countries annually take part) has demonstrated that this simple Australian idea has universal appeal and the health of the environment is of concern to people and communities worldwide.
Clean Up the World demonstrates that people across the planet are willing to do something themselves to help protect and care for their environment.
Since then Clean Up Australia has evolved into an organisation that works with the community, government and business to provide practical solutions to help us all live more sustainably every day of the year.
Encore une initiative australienne, après le Earth Hour, le jour du grand ménage.
Cette année le "Clean up Australia Day" vient d'avoir lieu.
C'était ce dimanche 6 mars et on y a participé a notre niveau.
Etant partis en vadrouille du coté de Bundaberg pour voir les tortues (mon prochain article y sera d'ailleurs consacré a cette rencontre inoubliable...), tant qu'a faire, autant joindre l'utile a l'agréable.
Partis se balader sur une plage, on y a ramassé les déchets qu'on y a trouvé et cela a deja rempli un bon sac poubelle.
En vrac: 4 canettes de boissons, des bouts de plastique, des ficelles et des cordes, des mégots de cigarette, des mètres de fil de pêche en nylon, bref, la poubelle de la mer que les hommes engraissent chaque jour un peu plus...
Dommage qu'il faille que le Clean Up Day soit un jour bien défini, il faudrait que cela soit quotidien.
Lorsqu'on part nous promener, on prend souvent un sac plastique dans la poche et on trouve malheureusement toujours des saloperies pour le remplir...
Et pour finir sur une note d'humour, voici ces 2 publicités qui me font bien rigoler.
Concernant le Earth Hour 2011, cette année ce sera le 26 mars.
Alors, préparez les bougies, dressez une jolie table, sortez les beaux couverts et les verres a pied du placard, concoctez un bon dîner et éteignez donc vos lumières pour 1 heure!
Bises a tous...
