In honour of National Environment Week (1-7 June) and World Environment Day, which takes place on 5 June, the Miss Earth South Africa will be visiting Melville Koppies West Nature Reserve for their annual clean up project.
World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 in honour of the first Earth Summit, which took place in Stockholm that year. At this conference the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), which endorses the Miss Earth South Africa programme, was established.
Community members from Pretoria and as far afield as Bloemfontein and KwaZulu Natal will be joining the Miss Earth South Africa team for this clean upCommunity members from Pretoria and as far afield as Bloemfontein and KwaZulu Natal will be joining the Miss Earth South Africa team for this clean up in service of Mother Earth.
The clean up will take place on Saturday, 1 June from 9am and will see members of the public joining forces with the Miss Earth South Africa Regional Finalists, members of the Imperial Toyota team.
Also present will be a number of Generation Earth Councils and a number of the Miss Earth South Africa’s celebrity guests as well as the Southern Africa UNEP Youth Ambassador, Ella Bella.
LONG-STANDING TRADITION
The Miss Earth South Africa organisation has a long-standing tradition of clean up activations at Melville Koppies Nature Reserve.
Last year Generation Earth Ambassadors, television and radio presenter, Ashley Hayden and Wonderboom frontman, Cito as well as the 94.7 Ground Patrol team joined the regional finalists.
2012 also saw the organisation celebrate a decade of environmental advocacy, which saw the team plant its 20 000th tree in Diepsloot ahead of the gala celebrations in August.
MAKE EVERY DAY EARTH DAY
This year the Miss Earth SA organisation has launched their Make Every Day an Earth Day campaign, to inspire people to stop talking about going green and to actively engage in it, remembering the 4 Rs in all they do: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Respect for people and planet.
The organisation encourages the public to participate in Meat-Free Monday, buy locally produced items and ensure they buy in-season fruits and veggies as imported produce has a much higher carbon footprint, and, wherever possible opt for organic and fairtrade options.
Simple acts can benefit the environment in a big way, if everyone actively participates.
The Miss Earth South Africa organisation has a long-standing tradition of clean up activations at Melville Koppies Nature Reserve (Images: Miss Earth SA)SUSTAINABLE EMPOWERMENT
The Miss Earth South Africa programme was first initiated in 2003, when Catherine Constantinides, the first to carry the title of Miss Earth South Africa, realised that there was an ever-increasing social divide in South Africa that could only be addressed by the implementation of a sustainable empowerment programme with a dual focus – that of people and planet.
The call-to-action by Miss Earth SA and their partners, Consol, Tsogo Sun, Samsung, Imperial Toyota, SAPPI and Garnier, is to create the awareness needed to get the Green Revolution into action in communities around our beautiful South Africa.
For more visit their website, www.missearthsa.co.za, follow Miss Earth South Africa on Twitter (@missearth_sa) or Like the official Miss Earth South Africa Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/missearthsa).
