According to CNN, schools and organisations from across South Africa took part in its third annual Call to Earth Day on Tuesday, 28 November in a day of global action to raise awareness of environmental issues and engage with conservation education. 

 

In the week that COP28 began in the United Arab Emirates, CNN's Call to Earth Day celebrated a planet worth protecting through special programming across TV and digital, and by partnering with schools, individuals and organisations across the world focusing on the crucial connection between cities and the wilderness. 

 

CNN says that one of the pre-schools in South Africa that took part in Call to Earth Day was Belle Horizon Nursery School, which marked the day by making crafts from recycled material and creating learning material out of cardboard.

 

Isabella Mua, the principal at Belle Horizon, shared her excitement to be a part of the initiative and said that it is important for children to be taught from early childhood how to care for their planet in the little ways they can.

 

With a drive for sustainability and a love for community, Gontse — an alum of Primestars' Step Up 2 A Green Start-Up — also took part in the initiative. For Call To Earth Day, he made use of his social media platforms to raise awareness of poor environmental choices and highlighted how his start-up All Day Jam is founded on the ethos of sustainability.

 

Gontse identified dumping sites in his community in Soweto and transformed them so he could generate produce for his homemade jam. He has future plans to one day teach his organic farming skills to high school students to encourage sustainability. Primestars showed their support for Gontse by amplifying his message on social media. 

 

According to CNN, the schools in South Africa were part of a global initiative that saw over 200 000 participants in more than 100 countries around the world participating in Call to Earth Day.

 

These schools made a difference in their local communities by holding events including:
  • tree plantings
  • conservation assemblies, and
  • making environmental awareness videos.

Some schools also utilised lesson plans developed by Climate Change Education Consultant Kottie Christie-Blick as a learning resource for children from the ages of five to 17, adds CNN. 

South Africa also featured on CNN on Call to Earth Day as David McKenzie joined the team at Baboon Matters to see how they are providing innovative, non-invasive and sustainable solutions to help baboons and humans co-exist.  

 

Other programming on CNN during the day included a special documentary titled Our Shared Home, reporting and live broadcasts from around the world on CNN International and CNN en Espanol TV networks, digital and social media platforms. This was also on CNN Arabic and CNN Max in the United States.

This report examined environmental solutions and explored projects from locations around the world in:
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • the Middle East, and
  • both North and South America.


Call to Earth Day is part of Call to Earth, a network initiative launched by CNN in 2019 in partnership with Rolex and its Perpetual Planet Initiative. It shines a light on those committed to safeguarding our planet for future generations.

Over the last four years, this award-winning programming has told stories of change-makers, visionaries and ground-breaking projects making a difference to the world around them, concludes CNN. 

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