[Canmore, AB 04-22-09] Today is Earth Day 2009. It is an opportunity for people across the nations to show our gratitude for this planet and humongous ecosystem that we share every day of our lives and even after. Please take some time today to act kindly towards the beautiful world you live in. Here are some websites to check out for events and opportunities to participate in: earth day canada earth day usa earth day network

Below is some information about Earth Day Canada. encounter earth is hoping to partner with this organization in the future to demonstrate our value of the earth and the ecosystems we share.

Mission: To improve the state of the environment by empowering and helping Canadians to take positive environmental action.

Vision: Earth Day will remain Canada’s strongest positive voice in promoting constructive and sustainable environmental values, actions and solutions.

Goals:
* CREATE positive public awareness for existing and developing environmental solutions.
* EMPOWER and ENCOURAGE Canadians to take environmental action in their communities.
* ADDRESS the challenges to Canada’s environment by working in partnership to create programs that can be delivered by communities, organizations and individuals.
* FOSTER and MAINTAIN the positive celebration of Earth Day annually.

Celebrated every April 22, Earth Day is the largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide.

More than 6 million Canadians join 1 billion people in over 170 countries in staging events and projects to address local environmental issues. Nearly every school child in Canada takes part in an Earth Day activity.

Environmental challenges abound as our daily actions pollute and degrade the fragile environment that humans and wildlife depend on to survive.

What can we do?

Earth Day provides the opportunity for positive actions and results.

First launched as an environmental awareness event in the United States in 1970, Earth Day (April 22) is celebrated as the birth of the environmental movement.

Earth Day is a powerful catalyst for change. The first Earth Day, spearheaded by Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson and Harvard University student Denis Hayes, involved 20 million participants in teach-ins that addressed decades of environmental pollution. The event inspired the US Congress to pass clean air and water acts, and establish the Environmental Protection Agency to research and monitor environmental issues and enforce environmental laws.

In 1990, two million Canadians joined 200 million people in 141 nations in celebrating the first International Earth Day. In many countries, the global event brought pressure on heads of state to take part in the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to address issues such as climate change and the world wide loss of species.

In Canada, Earth Day has grown into Earth Week and even Earth Month to accommodate the profusion of events and projects. They range from large public events, such as Victoria’s Earth Walk (5,000 participants), Edmonton’s Earth Day Festival at Hawrelak Park (30,000 participants), and Oakville, Ontario’s Waterways Clean-up (2,000 participants) to the thousands of small, private events staged by schools, employee groups and community groups.

[Canmore, AB 04-05-09] Encounter earth is still in early development as a business and way of thinking. There are some very complicated ideas to process when making a priority on partnering within the third world. Looking at Africa for instance, there are many critics who believe that any aid is wasted because of compromising government officials. The result is that a large amount of aid is redirected to the few and the whole cycle of exploitation is recycled.

Here within the encounter earth brain trust we believe that there are other, renewed ways to approach or broach this briar of greed and manipulation. The big idea is to work directly with the entrepreneurs/creative hard working individuals and communities. Aid and development on their own can create dependence but resource appropriately given through pay for work or loaned to people (with dreams to provide for their children and communities) is sustainable!

Check out the TED video below to see what happened to Jane in the slums of Nairobi and what can be the reults of creativity, hardship, and resource: