“It is important for African people to stand up against the abuse of the environment because it is our heritage at stake. VUMA.EARTH is a tool to help facilitate this,” said Angelo C Louw, Greenpeace Africa Digital Mobilisation Officer.
VUMA.EARTH is a full-on campaign management tool that allows users to set up petitions, easily communicate with supporters and set up offline events. A particularly useful function of the platform, within the rural African context, is the ability to capture signatures offline for later use.To garner momentum for this platform, Greenpeace Africa is calling on supporters to get friends and networks to support any of the environmental causes on the platform which they believe in.
By choosing a cause you care about, signing and sharing on social media and tagging friends, you will demonstrate how simple it is to take action during this World Environment Day. Using the platform will also demonstrate the potential of ordinary citizens’ networks to affect change. Many people think it is hard to get involved in protecting the environment because they feel that they can only do that by showing up at protests and clean-ups. While it would be amazing for people to commit to environmentalism at that level, taking a stand for the environment is as simple as signing and sharing an online petition.
The call-to-action is simple:
- CHOOSE a cause you care about
- SIGN and SHARE it on social media
- TAG your friends “ added Louw
Social media has made it very difficult for decision-makers to sweep urgent environmental matters under the carpet. VUMA.EARTH offers a platform to mobilise African people to stand up fo the environment.
Notes:
VUMA.EARTH was named to resonate across the African continent, as VUMA means “to spread like wildfire” in Swahili and “to be in agreement” in Southern African Nguni languages.
World Environment Day takes place on 5 June. The theme this year is “Beat Plastic Pollution”. It is followed by World Ocean Day on 8 June, which has the same theme.
There is currently a campaign urging local food retailers in Kenya and South Africa to abandon single-use plastic items running on the platform, called #BreakFreeFromPlastic. It has been very successful in creating awareness of plastic pollution, and solutions, here in Africa.
Media Contacts:
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[email protected]; Greenpeace Africa Digital Mobilisation Officer; +27 (0) 71 481 7702
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Media in Central Africa: [email protected]; Communications Officer, Greenpeace Africa; + 237 677 345 612
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Media in East and Southern Africa: [email protected]; Communications Officer, Greenpeace Africa; +254 708 056 207
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Media in West Africa: [email protected]; Communication Officer, Greenpeace Africa; +221 773 336 265
Discussion
Eco-Conscious Citizens a group of environmental activists in Ghana and outside Ghana welcome the support of Greenpeace Africa in protecting Atewa Forest Reserve in Ghana from bauxite mining. Bauxite mining will destroy the ecosystem, and endangered species and pollute the water supply of over 5 million Ghanaians.
Working together will bring change.
Appreciate the brilliant work you are doing to ensure we can have the basic privilege of breathing in clean air. I would like to urge people to protest against the toxic fumes that are burning for 10 days straight currently on a refuse dump located inbetween residential areas.It is causing severe asthma and lung complications for hundreds of thousands of people and polluting the air severely. Name of dump is Panorama refuse dump located in Radiokop Johannesburg. Areas directly affected with this Toxic smog is: Radiokop Strubensvalley Constantiakloof Allens nek Little falls Fairlands Weltevredenpark Northcliffe Quellerina. We would appreciate any help regarding this crippling issue and would like the dump to close down and relocate.
Thank you for sharing this devastating news with us. Please start a petition on VUMA.EARTH to urge your local municipalities to stop on this. People can not live like this.
Hi Please send send your request to local municipal office, they should be able to help and sort this issue out.
Hi, please log a call with your local municipality. If that does not work, you may start a petition on VUMA.EARTH.