Across the globe, community groups joined together to address the world’s key environmental challenges as part of the Clean Up the World Weekend, 18-20 September.

In the Philippines, the Center for Global Warming Studies held a two-day youth forum to encourage youth to think of creative and practical ways of addressing climate change.

In Africa, Environment Africa organised a walk through the streets to raise awareness of how people can unite to combat climate change.

In Malaysia, the World Youth Foundation planted trees, ran education campaigns and cleaned up around the local beaches.

And in the UK, the SHWAP Volunteer Group spent a day providing a local reserve with some much needed TLC.

It is always inspiring to see communities uniting for a common cause, and when that cause is to help combat the effects of climate change it’s even more moving.

APAC - Philippines - Senior Scouts of Jose J. Leido Jr. MNHS

Climate change is and will continue to play a dramatic role in our global future.

Environmental protection, as well as being about the here and now, is also about those down the track – the next generation of our own families and those who come to live on your street and the next generation of wildlife that inhabits the environment which sustain us all.

It’s also about coming together as a group. Individually we can all make a difference, but it’s when we unite that the big changes occur.

Argentina - Jardin de Infantes N° 118

What the participants across the Clean Up the World Weekend achieved wasn’t simply a few less rubbish items in our environment or a few more trees in the local park – it was much bigger than that. It was a cleaner environment, a healthier landscape, a more informed global nation. It was a step towards a brighter, healthier future – one without the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Spain - Sociedade Galega de Historia Natural Delegación Ferrol

The Clean Up the World Weekend provides a focal point and directs everyone’s attention to what needs to be done, but it’s not just about one weekend a year; it’s about making a commitment every day to improving our environment. Clean Up the World groups don’t just take part on the flagship weekend, there are activities happening all year-round. There are workshops, clean ups, tree plantings, recycling and waste initiatives held. You name it, if it means a healthier environment, Clean Up the World participants are doing it.

Trinidad and Tobago - Mayaro Environmental Wave

I’d like to thank every single one of the organisers and volunteers in over 110 countries that have taken the time to be part of Clean Up the World in 2009. Your leadership on the behalf of the environment is invaluable.

And to those that haven’t got involved yet, there is still time to join Clean Up the World this year. Jump onto www.cleanuptheworld.org and register your group as part of Clean Up the World. There are things we can do all year round to make a difference. Our planet is depending on us.

Read about and get inspired by examples of Clean Up the World activities by going to http://activities.cleanuptheworld.org

Russian Federation - Scouts of Michurinsk

Ian Kiernan AO

I was one of those fortunate kids who spent much of my youth in the outdoors – sailing, exploring the bush , swimming with my mates. It’s what made my childhood so memorable. What worries me about climate change is that it’s impact could take these precious experiences away from our kids.

Unless we take action to address the causes of climate change now, that’s exactly what will happen – our grandchildren, and their children won’t have the pleasure of enjoying those things that I consider to be some of the best parts of my life in the same way that I did.

We’re already seeing the effects of climate change across the globe– widespread melting of glacial ice, rising air and sea temperatures, and increasing sea levels.

These changes have the potential to rob our youth in many countries of not just the pleasure of experiencing their natural environment, but also basic needs such as shelter, food and drinking water.

The good news is that we can do something before it becomes a problem our future generations have to face alone.

And I believe we should be looking to our children for inspiration, because while our youth are not responsible for escalating climate change, many of them are leading the way in showing us how to address it.

Clean Up the World Weekend: Papua New Guinea - The Ela Murray International School

I’ve spent much of my time as the Chairman of Clean Up the World and Clean Up Australia visiting schools, talking to children about the state of our environment and what we can do to protect it.

These days however, I find that its me who’s doing the learning. I’m increasingly inspired by the depth of knowledge of the issues we face, the innovative ideas offered and the actions our kids are taking to reduce their impact.

More and more often I find myself fielding in depth questions and suggestions about the causes and solutions to our environmental problems. It gives me great confidence that the future of our environment is in good hands.

The World Organization of the Scout Movement, connecting with 28 million Scouts in 160 countries, has joined up as Clean Up the World Ally. That’s a demonstration that youth worldwide are leading the way, showing their commitment to the environment.
Scouts who are part of their National Scout Organisations in countries including  Algeria, Australia, Cote D’ivoire, France, Guyana, Japan, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Seychelles, Singapore, and Uganda are participating in Clean Up the World this year.

These youth, when they’re sitting around telling stories to their grandchildren, will be able to say that they played their part in helping combat climate change.  But what about the adults of today? Will you be able to look back with confidence and say you did your best to protect the planet for our future generation?

Mexico - Ecologia y Reciclaje de Sonora

I want the next generations of the Kiernan family – of all families – to be able to experience the things I was fortunate enough to enjoy when I was growing up. I don’t want our native wildlife to be something they only read about in books and I don’t want days spent playing outdoors to be a part of history. The potential future consequences of climate change are profound – I don’t want this to be our legacy for future generations.

Our children are tomorrow’s leaders, they’re the ones who’ll be setting the pace in the future and judging by what I’m seeing from them now, it looks like they’ll be making the environment a priority when their time comes. In the meantime, it’s up to the rest of us to make sure the planet we leave them is one on which they can live , not just exist.

Ian Kiernan AO

Someone asked me the other day what the point of recycling is? We spend our time diligently separating our recyclables from our non-recyclables and putting them in the correct bins, but does it really make a difference to the big picture?

The simple answer is yes, it does.

We’ve all heard of the three R’s – reduce, re-use and recycle. Recycling is the last resort. Avoiding unnecessary packaging and purchases should be our first priority and re-using items where possible is the next best thing. But, if once you’ve reduced your waste and reused whatever you can, you’re still left with something that needs to be disposed of, if it’s recyclable, make sure it gets recycled – it will decrease your contribution to climate change.

Many of us do recycle and we all know how big a problem climate change is, but I think we often forget the two are related.

Take for example that moment when you’re faced with the decision as to what to do with your rubbish. If you put that bottle or container in the recycling bin, it makes its way to a recycling depot where it is crushed, broken, re-processed and turned into something new.

On the other hand, if you put it in a general rubbish bin the journey is much different. From there it goes straight to landfill, where it becomes a lost resource. That means new materials, and therefore more emissions, are used to create brand new products. While manufacturing goods from recycled materials still requires energy, it is much less than extracting, processing, and transporting virgin raw materials.

Things such as glass and plastics can be recycled scores of times, which means that as well as stopping the rubbish piling up in our landfills, the emissions created and the resources used to produce brand new products are spared.

It may seem inconsequential at the time, but simply improving your purchasing and recycling habits can add up to huge environmental benefits. In fact:

•    The energy saved by recycling one plastic drink bottle will power a computer for 25 minutes.
•    Recycling a glass jar saves enough energy to light a bulb for four hours
•    Recycling one tonne of plastic saves enough energy to run a refrigerator for a month

Clean Up the World members have realised the importance of recycling. In fact, Clean Up the World Member reciclaje ecologico help create a culture of recycling though activities such as re-using objects in new ways – including creating plant holders containing local species of cactus from old shoes, toys and footballs.

Mexico - Ecologia y Reciclaje de Sonora

Other activities focused on recycling include those being carried out in Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Paraguay, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

It would be easy to throw our hands up in the air and say the environmental challenges that face us are all too hard, but the reality is they’re not. As these Clean Up the World members are proving, there are things we can all do – simple things like making the right choices when we shop and recycling – that will make a difference.

Climate change is a massive global problem that requires action at all levels. We can’t always control what our politicians do on environmental issues, but we can control what we do in our own homes. So next time you’re complaining about separating your recyclables from your non-recyclables, think about the bigger picture. Everything we do makes a difference – even simple things like putting that empty bottle and container in the recycling bin.

Ian Kiernan AO

Marine debris is a truly global problem – we are all dumping on each other. Plastic bags dumped in Western Australia have been found on the east coast of South Africa and a bottle dropped off the South African coast can just as easily end up in Mozambique.

It’s also a problem that suffers greatly from being “out of sight, out of mind”.

Back in 1986 I became acutely aware of the problem when I competed in the BOC round-the-world solo yacht race. The conditions, the physical challenge and the solitude made a lasting impression on me, but it was the rubbish carpeting once clean, majestic oceans that really changed my life.

Fridges, computers, bottles, fishing line, chip packets, televisions – you name it, it ends up in our oceans. In fact, just off the coast of Hawaii is a plastic gyre twice the size of Britain where the water is filled with six times as much plastic as plankton.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently released the first ever study of the impact of marine debris across the world’s oceans. The report “Marine Litter: A Global Challenge” found that plastic, especially plastic bags and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, are the most pervasive type of marine litter debris on the planet and that plastic makes up over 80 per cent of all rubbish found in several seas worldwide.

Now that’s obviously a major issue for our natural environment, but it’s also a serious concern for our marine life, such as whales, turtles and dolphins, and our seabirds. The journey for a piece of rubbish from supermarket aisle to the middle of the ocean is often a lethal one. Along the way many marine life fatally mistake the dumped plastic for food. In fact, according to UNEP, plastic is accountable for the deaths of more than a million seabirds and more than 100,000 marine mammals such every year.

It’s the things we’ve become so addicted to – plastics and the other things we use once and discard – that are spoiling our oceans. In fact, as much as 80 per cent of the marine debris in coastal waters and the deep oceans originates from our land-based activities. That means by adopting the refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle approach in our day-to-day living, we’ll go a long way to tackling the problem.

Clean Up the World members and volunteers are helping to combat the visible consequences of our addiction by undertaking activities such underwater clean ups, beach clean ups, marine debris education programs and marine debris monitoring projects in countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cayman Islands, Fiji, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea (Republic Of), Kuwait, Liberia, Malaysia, Maldives, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad And Tobago, and United Arab Emirates. See the full list of activities here

One of our ambassadors, David de Rothschild, is also helping to tackle the problem. Along with a crew of adventurers and scientists, David is preparing to sail across the Pacific in the Plastiki – a 60-foot catamaran made from reclaimed plastic bottles – to highlight the ecological damage being done to the world’s oceans. Keep an eye out for it.

Beating our addiction is not going to be easy, but we must take action together to ensure our oceans remain healthy and our save our marine life.

Ian Kiernan AO

In December this year, global leaders will meet in Copenhagen to agree the way forward on one of the biggest challenges facing our generation – climate change.

While this meeting is a crucial step in the global fight against climate change, it is certainly not the only step which needs to be taken. In addition to the international agreement we entreat our political leaders to negotiate, we need to band together as a global community to take real and local action starting right now.

The International Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007 found that unless we take action now we could potentially be facing:
•    by 2020 – 60 per cent of our Great Barrier Reef will be bleached
•    by 2050 – 50 per cent of agricultural lands in Latin America are likely to suffer desertification and salinisation
•    by 2080 – between 25 – 40 per cent of mammal species in national parks and sub-Saharan Africa will become endangered

And unless we take action globally islands such as Tuvalu will be told within the myths and legends of future generations

The solution is in our hands and we need to act now.

Sixteen years ago Clean Up the World, formed a partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme. Since then we have actively inspired and empowered people from all across the globe to take environmental action. It has since grown to engage an estimated 35 million individuals in over 120 countries, all heeding the call for urgent action.

Those 35 million people know every one of us has a duty to preserve and protect the environment in which we are just temporary occupants.

They understand that if we are to leave our children and grandchildren an intact ecological, social and economic system the one cannot be achieved without the other.

That 35 million want action, they know we need govern