World Cleanup Day
World Cleanup Day – Coordinated by EcoThailand – September annually – Koh Phangan.
World Cleanup day is an annual event not to be missed! Over 100 volunteers working together for Koh Phangan.
A goal that crosses borders and defies religious and cultural differences. World Cleanup Day is one of the biggest civic movements of our time, in 2018, uniting 18 million people across 157 countries around the world for the biggest waste collection day in human history.
An epic 36-hour green wave of cleanups across the globe – beginning in New Zealand and travelling around the world before ending in Hawaii and, of course, including Koh Phangan. On the day volunteers and partners worldwide will again come together to help rid our planet of trash – cleaning up litter and mismanaged waste from our beaches, rivers, forests, and streets. World Cleanup Day harnesses the power of everyday people to achieve incredible things by joining together. Its beauty lies in cooperation and collaboration: building bridges between disparate communities, and including all levels of society – from citizens, to business, to government. As in 2018, EcoThailand will facilitate a multigoup, multicultural cleanup at Thong Sala, Koh Phangan and hope many of you, both groups and individuals, can attend and work towards a common cause. Other cleanup events throughout the island are encouraged by all, both on that specific day and moving forward.
The humble beginnings of World Cleanup Day: This world-changing idea began in the small northern European country of Estonia, in 2008. 50,000 people united to clean up the entire country in just five hours. On that day, a global bottom-up civic movement was born, and spread like wildfire around the globe. This captured the imagination of people worldwide, who were inspired to follow suit with the same ambitious ‘one country, one day’ formula. 11 years later, the simple idea has grown into a global movement with millions of volunteers and charismatic leaders. The simple act of cleaning has become a force that binds together people and groups that would otherwise never dream of working towards the same goal. Civil society, governments and global corporations, women in Saudi Arabia, people defying war in Yemen and Syria, muslims, jews, hindus, buddhists and Christians, men and women, children.
World Cleanup Day 2019
World Cleanup Day 2018
Why? Nearly every human on this planet has a place they call a Home. Be it a mansion, a street, a hut or a flat in a metropolis. Then there are the cities, countries and regions we call home. And the planet we call home. The simplicity of the idea and the positive ‘let’s do it’ attitude took off and the rest, as they say, is history. Anyone can pick up trash. In 2018, a 101-year old man volunteered to clean in Curaçao. In Estonia, a group of mothers carrying their babies went out to clean. In Scotland, a dogs association came out with the dogs.
On Koh Phangan, individuals, school children, businesses, local government officers, park rangers, local communities, volunteer groups and ngo’s all meet and work in unison. But World Cleanup Day has become so much more than the simple act of picking up trash. Daycares, schools, companies, government officials – the old, the young, the rich, the poor, the able and less able – everyone contributed. Because they could. Because they wanted to be involved in making their home a better place. Because they were given an opportunity to help. Because they belong to both a local and global community.
World Cleanup Days – Photo Gallery:
