Day #6: Sustainability
3

For

2023 Billion Acts Earth Day Countdown

Global

Apr. 06, 2023

The Act is virtual

About this Act

Welcome to day #6 of the 2023 Billion Acts Earth Day Countdown! You can visit the main campaign page here! Let us know how you joined today's call-to-action by clicking on "Share and Earn Peace Points" on the right side of the screen. We also welcome you to add your own Earth month events and calls-to-action to the campaign page as well. We're on a mission to reach 1,000 acts by April 22nd!

You can also follow along with our campaign on our Facebook group. We will be reaching out each day with messages from our incredible Nobel Peace Laureates and youth-leaders working to build a healthier environment for us all.

*The resources, links, and calls-to-action in this act do not represent official endorsements of the PeaceJam Foundation.

Every act for the environment has an impact, whether hosting a community clean-up, restoring a natural area, or advocating for a specific cause. Sometimes such acts may feel small in the scope of larger environmental issues. At Billion Acts, we firmly believe that like the one hummingbird with her one drop of water, small actions can set big movements in motion. After all, the ocean itself is made up of individual drops of water. Action inspires action.

At the same time, long-lasting solutions often require us to go beyond isolated acts. They require us to make personal commitments, put in place lasting practices, and serve as an everyday advocate for the environment. In essence, we need movement - just like the ocean. This includes building the principles and values of sustainability into our own homes and communities. Sustainability calls upon us not to be "perfect" or to follow the exact same pathways. Rather this becomes an ongoing commitment to learn, integrate, and adapt in new ways. Such commitments extend to the levels of communities, schools, companies, and countries as well. And it’s not one-size fits all. At the heart is the ability to create healthy, resilient, and adaptable communities - an idea also known as regenerative cultures.

Inspiration:

2019 Billion Acts Awardee PeaceBoat is driven by a mission to build cultures of peace and sustainability across divides. Their main activities are carried out through a passenger ship that travels the world to empower participants, strengthen local capacity for sustainability, and build people-to-people cooperation beyond borders.

Peace Boat’s first voyage was organized in 1983 by a group of Japanese university students as a creative response to government censorship regarding Japan’s past military aggression in the Asia-Pacific. They chartered a ship to visit neighboring countries with the aim of learning first-hand about the war from those who experienced it and initiating people-to-people exchange. Many of their recent voyages have focused even further on sustainability and environmental protection. Currently, they are working on creating the world's most environmentally sustainable cruise ship.

Education:

Action:

Let us know how you are taking action today! Let us know under "Share and Earn Peace Points".

Time for a good old “scavenger hunt”... in your own home! Take a walk around your home and reflect on areas where you can reduce waste, energy and water use on a daily basis. Here are a few examples: