The Ecosig Earth Day Planner's Guide

The Guide To Staging a Successful Earth Day Event

EcoSIG invites you to plan an Earth Day 2001 event in your community. As you may know. Earth Day was started back in 1970 in the United States as a "teach-in on the environment." Since then, Earth Day has caught on all over the world. Every year on April 22, which has been designated as "Earth Day," people around the world plan events to celebrate the natural environment. In Japan, past Earth Day organizers have held a wide variety of events, including Earth Day fairs, poster contests, school radio broadcasts, recycled-goods bazaars, and river clean-ups. Earth Day is the perfect day to help foster awareness of environmental issues in your community.

In 2001 April 22 will fall on a Sunday, and ecoSIG's objective is to have people all over the country hold simultaneous celebrations. Even if you can't hold an event on that day, we encourage you to plan an event on an environmental theme.

The Earth Day Planner's Guide includes tips and advice for organizing Earth Day events have been compiled using information and suggestions from past years Earth Day organizers, based on what they did successfully and on what they wished they had done differently.

We hope that you will take up our invitation and help increase environmental awareness in your community. January is not too early to get started! By March 2^nd, 2001, please notify the ecoSIG's National Earth Day Coordinator (Adriana Hochberg at adrihoch@operamail.com) with information about your event. Include in your email:

* your name

* address

* event date (if not April 22)

* tentative location(s)

* tentative event(s)

The Planner's Guide is divided into seven sections.

I - Getting volunteers to help plan the event

II - Deciding what kind of event to hold

III - When and where to hold the event

IV - Advertising/publicity

V - Getting funds for the event

VI - Post-event

VII- Attachments

For additional information on Earth Day, visit www.earthday.net, which is the site for the Earth Day Network. Lots of ideas and resources for planning an Earth Day event can be found at this site.

back to top

I GETTING VOLUNTEERS

Form an organizing committee

One of the most rewarding aspects of running an Earth Day event is working with and cooperating with other volunteers. Rather than plan the whole event on your own, you might consider sharing the planning responsibilities with other committed people. Working with a group of people can be more fun (and easier on you) than doing all of the work yourself.

There are two methods to establishing an organizing committee for your Earth Day event:

1) Recruit volunteers from among friends and colleagues, both Japanese and foreigners. The advantages of working with a group of people you already know is that you can start to plan informally. By initially working with a smaller number of people, it is easier to finalize issues.

2) Advertise the initial meeting to all interested (use town newsletter, word of mouth, teachers' bulletins). The advantage to this method is that you may get some really interested and committed people who you would not have recruited otherwise.

Tips for running successful organizational meetings

Give early notice about the meetings.

At the beginning of each meeting summarize the previous meeting's proceedings. At the end of the meeting, establish what has to be done, who will do it, and by when.

Have people sign-up for their positions, so there will be someone in charge of each item (divide tasks by individuals or subcommittees).

Hold regular meetings, keep in touch through email, FAX, etc., between meetings.

Exchange address information with others at the end of the meeting.

Create a schedule of when to have things done by and keep aware of deadlines.

Give everyone a chance to talk at the meeting, by asking for opinions and ideas.

Cooperation with other groups

Working with other civic groups, such as other environmental groups, AJET, AJET’s Outdoor SIG, your local government office, Rotary Club, Lions Club, Girls Scouts, is an effective way to get more funds and publicity for your project.

It is a good idea to contact officials early. April is the start of the new fiscal year, and local government offices are very busy at that time. Try contacting the Environmental Preservation Division (kankyou seibika, seikatsu kankyouka) and Boards of Education (kyoiku inkai) in your town hall and arranging a meeting with a staff person. They may help you to acquire trash bags and other materials (tables, tents, etc).

back to top

II DECIDING ON THE EVENT

The following are ideas for local events. If you are interested in participating in a national campaign, or having a petition along with your event, check-out ecoSIG's campaigns' page.

Clean-up a river, mountain, road, beach, or park: dispose of garbage immediately after event. Separate combustible trash from non-combustible.

Charity Fundraiser: throw a party (DJ and live entertainment), have a bazaar with hand-made products (for example, make notebooks from once-used paper), recycled goods flea market/garage sale.

Food: environmentally-friendly picnic, without disposable products. You could have this after the main event, as a way to reward volunteers and participants.

Competition: poster-designing competition, essay contest, etc. Have visitors vote for the best poster.

"Free sale": give away unwanted items.

Games: True or False Eco Quiz, Recycled prizes (wrapped up in newspaper), recycled materials sculpture, talent show. Set up several corners; people answer one-two questions per corner. They then use their answer sheet as an entry sheet that will be entered into a drawing with prizes.

Group discussions, workshops

Tree planting

Recycled art display, craft corner: using milk cartons, old wrapping paper, magazines, newspapers, etc, have kids make crafts, such as pencil boxes, recycled flower origami magnets, etc.

Cultural event, educational event at schools, for community groups

Rally

Set up a poster or booth with environmental information at your local library, supermarket, etc. The World Wildlife Fund and the Japan Environmental Exchange have provided past organizers with information and pictures.

Raffle

Combination events: such as music along the clean-up, games, clean up and signing petitions, tree planting and educational forum plus picnic. AJET get-together plus Earth Day event.

Earth Day Fair/Festival with information booths, lectures, music, games, food.

School events: radio broadcasts, distribute information handouts to homeroom teachers and have them put the information up in their classrooms.

How to make sure your event runs smoothly

Give yourself plenty of time to set up.

Do not try to do too much in one day; it is OK to have separate events in different days.

Have enough materials for all participants (food, gloves, etc). Plan for more than you think you will need.

Plan for a garbage pick-up for immediately after the event.

Use public facilities/a place you do not have to rent out

Have fact sheets available to all participants.

Place ads around the site where you are holding the event, so passersby will know what is going on.

Divided people into groups, evenly (for instance, Japanese middle school students get paired up with ALTs, etc).

Have people bring their own food rather than worrying about providing food for dozens/hundreds of people.

Have a first aid kit with you at the event site.

back to top

III DECIDING WHEN AND WHERE TO HOLD THE EVENT

Do not have the event start too early in the morning.

In looking for a venue, look for a place that is close to public transportation, accessible, and is large enough to fit your group. If you need to make a reservation, do it ahead of time (at least two months) to ensure that you get the location you want, when you want it).

If you want to hold a clean-up on public land, contact your Town Hall regarding the site and to get garbage bags and other materials.

Verify that other local events are not taking place on the same date; other events could draw participants away from your event.

Check with others in your area to see whether they are planning an Earth Day-related event. It would be easier to coordinate events.

back to top

IV ADVERTISING/PUBLICITY

Quote from a past Earth Day organizer: "Advertisement before the event is crucial to its success."

Aim to have posters in place at least a month before the event.

Places to put up the ads: local community center, neighborhood community centers, supermarkets, banks, town hall, schools. Ask manager (keichou) if it is OK to put up the ads.
-Prepare several earth-day icons

Advertise through English conversation schools, prefectural AJET magazine, listserv.

Use word of mouth to spread the message.

Make it attractive for people to come, tell them what they will get out of it.

Newspaper, radio, and TV coverage: call ahead of time; send them a media form letter inviting their attendance. If they do not come, give them information and pictures later.

Contact your kencho's environmental department; ask them to include information about your event in their newsletter.

Have a statement/ speech prepared in Japanese in case you are asked for an interview.

Poster Information:
State in the poster whether the event will be held rain or shine; give rain dates.

Write date and time using big letters.

Make the posters stand out, such as by adding color, adding pictures from magazines.

Make signs to be put up during the event. This informs other people of what your group is doing.

Include a map of the location in the poster.

Include in-depth information on the poster so people can understand what the event is about.

Emphasize that everyone is invited to participate, particularly locals.

Mention kouryuu in the publicity materials, Japanese and foreigners working together for a more sustainable Japan.

back to top

V GETTING FUNDS

Funds:

Ask prefectural AJET; do event in conjunction with them; ask Town Hall; contact AJET Block Reps.
Get local businesses to help sponsor your event. Visit restaurants and cafes, sports stores, music stores, health shops. Ask for sponsorship and if you can put up posters in their store.

VI POST-EVENT

Prepare certificates to hand out to participants for their involvement.

Send thank you cards or letters to those who supported the project. You may want to prepare this ahead of time.

Leave no traces of the event by cleaning up.

Inform the Earth Day Coordination about how your event went. Please email Adriana Hochberg (adrihoch@operamail.com) the following information by May 6, 2001.

* Your name

* Address

* Media coverage

* Number of attendees

* Foreigner/Japanese ratio

* Final location

* Detailed description of event(s)

* Problems/suggestions for next year's event

back to top

VII ATTACHMENTS

The following documents have been compiled by past years' Earth Day organizers. Feel free to use them as part of your own event.

Advertisements