For the sixth time in Croatia, Saturday, April 22nd (Earth Day), will host the largest ecological national campaign “Green Cleanup – One Day for a Clean Environment”, which will once again bring together volunteers from all over Croatia.
“Green Cleanup” is the largest volunteer project in Croatia. Over the last five years, the project has seen 250,000 volunteers from Croatia who gathered more than 23,000 tons of waste throughout the country, reports Dalmacija News on April 21, 2017.
“An outstanding response, but also a concern for the amount of waste we are producing, which is an indication of the growing importance that people attach to the environment and a strong signal that there is still a lot of work ahead of us,” said Žmergo, the association that coordinates “Green Cleanup”.
This cleanup should not be understood as just a one-day cleaning action, but an attempt to educate citizens about the importance of environmental protection and sustainable development through various activities and programs.
“There has been an increasing number of volunteers year after year, which shows that the public is more environmentally aware and we need to restore the relationship between the balance of man and nature,” added Žmergo.
The “Green Cleanup” is part of the global movement “Let’s do it!” and the annual action World Cleanup which brings together over 14 million people in 113 countries around the world. At the beginning of last year, representatives of “Let’s do it!” decided that, instead of coordinating a series of large national cleaning actions during different dates in a single year, they felt a new approach was necessary. Therefore, on September 15th, the next World Cleanup will be held which will unite 150 countries for a mass cleanup.
Zagreb this year will host a “Green Cleanup” at Nature Park Medvednica at locations in the western part of Zagreb and Novi Zagreb.
Director of Nature Park Medvednica, Snježana Malić-Limari, has called on the citizens of Zagreb to join them in the cleanup that is traditionally organized in Croatia for Earth Day. The action is taking place today from 10:00 to 13:00.
The cleanup will be joined by a large number of members of the forum of stakeholders at Nature Park Medvednica (Croatian forests, hunting and hiking clubs, associations, schools, hotels, caterers, Croatian Ski Association and others) to eliminate as much waste as possible from the Medvednica forests, said Malić-Limari, who called on Zagreb’s residents, hikers and lovers of nature to come out and help.
The Croatian Red Cross (CRC) this year continues to implement the environmental project, “Red Cross in the Blue,” which aims to raise awareness of the importance of preserving the natural beauty of Croatia as one of the key elements of successful tourism.
The first CRC environmental action will be held April 22 in Split, in the area of Park-Forest Marjan from 10:00 to 12:00. The action will include cleaning up the seabed and coastal areas and employees and volunteers of the Croatian Red Cross, representatives of the Ministry of Interior, employees of park-forest Marjan and more than 30 divers from various diving clubs will be in attendance.
In addition to cleaning the shoreline and seabed, the action will include an educational program for children and adults which will focus on environmental protection. Visitors will also be able to take their blood pressure and blood sugar for free.
The Croatian Red Cross invites the public to join them to mark Earth Day in an effort to raise public awareness about the importance of preserving Croatia.
The “Red Cross in the Blur,” began last year and included five large-scale eco actions to clean the seabeds and coastal areas in attractive tourist and significant locations throughout Croatia. National parks Kornati, Brijuni, Mljet and Krka and the island of Sipan were all included in the cleanup which collected 426 sacks of waste.
This year, ”Red Cross in the Blue” will host a number of environmental activities at coastal locations, the first being in the city of Split.
