Call to Earth Day: Taking action to protect the planet

Updated 6:01 p.m. ET, November 10, 2021
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10:43 a.m. ET, November 10, 2021

Rainforest Alliance promoting “climate smart agriculture”

The Rainforest Alliance is an international NGO known for its food and product certification label featuring a green frog, with more than 2 million farmers around the world having been certified for following its sustainability standards.

CNN’s Julia Chatterley spoke with the Rainforest Alliance’s CEO Santiago Gowland to learn more about what the frog represents.

10:25 a.m. ET, November 10, 2021

"It’s not your garbage but it’s our planet"

Global Volunteer International is coordinating multiple activities around the world for Call To Earth Day, including beach clean-ups and seedling planting.

In the Seychelles, volunteers shared their pledges to protect the planet for future generations.

10:07 a.m. ET, November 10, 2021

The 10-year-old Girl Guide from Malaysia proving you're never too young to make a difference

Climate change might seem like an overwhelming problem, but one young girl from Kuala Lumpur is starting small, by cleaning up her local area.

Hamshini has been collecting litter over the past week leading up to Call to Earth Day, among the many ways in which she's pledging to help the environment: using reusable food and drink containers, recycling clothes and packaging, and going vegan once a week.

“Let's not forget we only have one Earth!” says Hamshini.

9:51 a.m. ET, November 10, 2021

“There’s no age limit on leading change”

Call to Earth Day is about young people all around the world taking action to save the planet. That’s something that 22-year-old Mhairi McCann is very familiar with.

The Scot is at COP26 in Glasgow representing Youth STEM 2030, a non-profit she founded, which empowers young people to use science, tech, engineering and math to solve the complex challenges we face today.

Currently it has 70 volunteers from around 26 countries, including the UK, El Salvador and Zambia. To tackle a global issue, McCann believes there needs to be a global community acting together.

Mhairi McCann, founder of Youth STEM 2030.
Mhairi McCann, founder of Youth STEM 2030. CNN

“In Scotland, while we’re seeing some impacts of climate change, we’re not seeing anywhere near the worst of it, and I think that seeing other young people who are actually on the frontlines and seeing the things that they’re both experiencing and doing about it, has given a lot of young people the feeling that they can make a difference,” she said.

Action should not be just be limited to world leaders, McCann added: “There’s no age limit on leading change. Too often society structures mean that practically there is, but there really shouldn’t be.”

9:32 a.m. ET, November 10, 2021

Done with that milk carton? Here's how to turn it into an artistic masterpiece

Bottle tops, milk cartons and old magazines are all materials that have been turned into artwork by students at Jacaranda School for Orphans in Limbe, Malawi.

They've even made a banner out of soil found around the school to celebrate Call To Earth Day. Through art, they aim to express their feelings about protecting the planet and encourage people to tackle climate change.

Here's how they did it.

9:17 a.m. ET, November 10, 2021

An international art exhibition hosted by the Mother Tree in Nairobi

In Nairobi, Kenya, students and Swedish ambassador Caroline Vicini gather under the Mother Tree, an acacia on the grounds of the United Nations complex. The tree has been decorated with artworks from 16 communities in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Sweden linked with the Globetree organization.

In 2001 the UN Environmental Program authorized the planting of the tree by Globetree, and 20 years later it continues its purpose: a gathering place to discuss climate matters.

Students are there to bridge the gap between children and world leaders, and they're even using song and dance to make their point!

9:06 a.m. ET, November 10, 2021

Children are teaching each other to be Earth savers

When it comes to saving the planet, we each have a role to play. Student or teacher, child or adult, we can all learn from each other how best to sustain the world we share.

This is exactly what students at Al Makassed Dawha School in Lebanon are doing to celebrate Call To Earth Day. Grade six pupils are teaching grade two children simple ways to help the environment.

8:43 a.m. ET, November 10, 2021

A plant-athon is underway in Singapore

Green-fingered students at UWC South East Asia in Singapore are gardening at scale. Children are sowing herbs, potting on seedlings and cultivating cuttings in a sheltered tropical garden.

The school's sustainability effort's have recently received a platinum award by the National Parks Board as part of its Community in Bloom Initiative.

8:28 a.m. ET, November 10, 2021

Jane Goodall outlines key steps to tackling climate change

Jane Goodall speaking via Zoom at COP26.
Jane Goodall speaking via Zoom at COP26. CNN

Acclaimed anthropologist and primatologist Jane Goodall wants you to get involved in Call To Earth Day, sharing the message on Facebook that "we all have a role to play."

At the COP26 climate summit last night she told young scientists "we must stop intensive farming and move towards a plant-based diet" -- one of a number of calls to action in her speech.

She also said we need to reduce waste and to stop deforestation and ocean pollution. Speaking virtually at the Climate Science Olympiad 2021 award ceremony, Goodall said:

We depend on healthy ecosystems, and a healthy ecosystem is made up of the complex interrelationship of the plants and animals that live there. As these plants and animals, each one of whom has a role to play, become extinct from that ecosystem, then it's like pulling threads from a tapestry until the tapestry hangs in tatters -- and the 'eco' in ecosystem collapses.

Climate Science awarded a prize pool of $10,000 to the top three teams with the most compelling solutions to climate problems. The winning duo, Alexandra Pilz and Eleonore Vecchioli, both 14 and from London, won for their global carbon tax scheme, including an intricate a carbon accounting and corporate tax policy.

The 14-year-old winners of the Climate Science Olympiad pictured on stage at COP26.
The 14-year-old winners of the Climate Science Olympiad pictured on stage at COP26. CNN

It’s no wonder Goodall spoke optimistically of the youth environmental movement and the bright young minds of the future. 

You, young people, when you understand the problems and you're empowered to take action, you are changing the world every day, every hour, every minute somewhere," she said.

READ MORE: Jane Goodall shares her lessons from a lifetime in the field