On April 22, the world celebrates Earth Day. Observed annually since 1970, one month after the spring equinox, Earth day marks the anniversary of modern environmental consciousness and dedicated care for the planet.
BPW is stepping up to promote the message of sustainability and encourage individual responsibility and action in women everywhere. Through our networks, we will do our part to draw attention to the pressing issues of the planet, seek solutions by informing ourselves and examining our own contribution to environmental welfare, and invite women leaders and women everywhere to join us in making pledges of sustainability for the year ahead.
What?
Invite your community to post photos/videos of themselves on social media, holding the Earth. This visual can be achieved by drawing the shape of the planet onto one’s palm, holding up a globe or a ball with earth-like graphics, or editing the planet into one’s photo digitally. The image/video should be posted on social media (Facebook and/or Instagram) along with the pledge (“I promise to…”, “Holding the Earth by…”), using hashtags #HoldingTheEarth, #WomenForMotherEarth, #EarthDayPledge, #GreenBPW.
The pledge can be personal or professional, depending on what one is passionate about and what they are able to commit to in the present stage of their life. Big changes start with small, consistent ones – the pledge can be anything from deciding to renounce plastic bags, create a bee-friendly balcony, change dietary habits, or consume music in a more sustainable fashion. However big or small, it is important that the practice or activity selected is something one intends to follow throughout the year.
When?
Campaign launched internationally in early April 2022. Pledges are intended to be followed over the course of one year, until the next Earth Day.
Where?
Online - everywhere. BPW members and the broader public (women in particular) are invited to participate in the pledging initiative by taking a picture/video of themselves holding an image of the planet and posting the picture along with a sustainability pledge for the year ahead. Offline – clubs are encouraged to organize outdoor activities on Earth Day. Examples of activities for BPW members could be planting trees together or organizing a local clean-up and documentation of illegally dumped waste (in the style of World Cleanup Day).
How?
Promotion through social media, BPW websites, mailing lists, traditional media. Contacting public personas and influencers personally and asking them to join the pledging initiative to spread the word. The first, most important step is for club members to make their pledges before (or on) 22.04, posting their own videos/photos on social media to popularize the movement and create visibility for our hashtags. We hereby invite board members and team leaders to be the first ones to post their video/photo pledges, thus inspiring others to join!
EARTH DAY EVENT
On April 22, 2023, there will be a special Earth Day pledging event in Estonia 
outside in apple tree garden. We have agreed that every organization in BPW will make their own event and we connect eachother via zoom to sing the Eart Day song. We invite you to promote the event at your clubs and arrange viewings, where possible. We also invite you to record videos of your pledges and share them with us in preparation for the Event – that way we can include your videos in the live stream!
When?
Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 14:30-15.30 CET (tbc)
What?
Event showcasing pledges by female entrepreneurs in Estonia and abroad, complete with artistic acts inspired by nature and the Earth Day initiative. Dances, storytelling and BPW’s chant “I am the Earth” in a new arrangement in several languages, featuring a choir of women of different ages. We invite you to promote the viewing of the live stream in and outside your Clubs.
