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In pictures: It’s Earth Day, stand up for the planet!

Posted by Angela Glienicke - 22nd April 2017


It’s Earth Day today! This global, annual
event has been celebrated since the 70’s and is a chance to show your
appreciation for environmental protection. Whether it’s campaigning for clean
air, protecting forests and oceans or fighting against climate
change, the planet needs our help. These pictures illustrate biodiversity and positive solutions and actions for protecting the environment.

At one of the biggest wind farms in Fukushima prefecture, Japan, 33 wind turbines are producing electricity equivalent to the power demands of 35,000 households  per year. Fukushima has declared its ambition to become 100% renewable by 2040. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster, a Feed in Tariff scheme was installed in 2012. Since then renewable energy, mainly photovoltaic, has grown massively however.

© Guillaume Bression / Greenpeace 2016

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A Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), an endangered species.These short lived insects migrate to Mexico each year, but no single butterfly completes the return journey. Instead four different generations are born throughout the year and each completes a segment of the round trip. They can fly at between 20km and 40km an hour, and make use of updrafts of warm air called thermals to rise high into the air and slowly glide down. This endangered species has been negatively impacted by herbicides, human disturbances, and predation.

© Dave Taylor / Greenpeace 2014

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Villagers from Luorong Village, a natural village in the Potatso National Forest Park, China, are harvesting barley. The Hengduan Mountain Range in the Yunnan province of China kept its original natural and cultural landscape. It is one of the only remaining Intact Forest Landscapes in China, and is full of biodiversity. After the implementation of the Natural Forest Protection Programme, the former loggers, hunters, herdsmen, and officials became forest rangers and forest policemen. Indigenous People now practice an ethos of modern ecology protection alongside their traditional faith.

© Shi bai Xiao / Greenpeace 2016

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Greenpeace volunteers from 10 European countries are mapping one of the last remaining ancient and old growth forests in Europe in the Forest Rescue Station, in order to highlight the need for the Romanian government to legally protect the forest.

© Mitja  Kobal / Greenpeace 2016

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A farmer holds maize cobs in Yatta, Machokos County. Farmers in Kenya are effectively applying ecological farming practices that are increasing their ability to build resilience to and cope with climate change.

© Cheryl-Samantha Owen / Greenpeace 2015

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More than 200 local fishing boats carrying community members from 50 villages unfurl a banner with the message BREAK FREE in Mun river near Don Kham Puang island, Thailand.

As part of the global Break Free movement local communities and Greenpeace Southeast Asia are calling for Thailand to quit dirty energy (dams) and transition to 100% renewable energy, to keep the global average temperature to less than 1.5 degree celsius.

© Arun Sooksukpai / Greenpeace 2017

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Confronted with the realities of overfishing, local fisherman in Thailand push for sustainable solutions to preserve the ecosystem that makes their economy thrive.

© Biel Calderon / Greenpeace 2015

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Trifina Tsehla switches on the lights as the sun sets in Polokwane, South Africa. In the nights Trifina’s family used only paraffin which created a lot of pollution. She knew it was bad for her kids’ health but there was no choice as there was no electricity from the grid. When she heard about solar home systems, she wanted to try them out for her family. Now a year later she believes she made the right choice.  Her kids are not coughing anymore and they feel much safer in the night.

© Mujahid Safodien / Greenpeace 2016

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Plastic waste is seen on sea-bed at Laem Sai, Karon beach, Phuket, Thailand. The area is near coral reefs that are home to marine species.

Greenpeace wants to eliminate single-use plastics which threaten marine life and pollute our oceans.

© Sirachai Arunrugstichai / Greenpeace 2017

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One of the first images of the Amazon Reef taken from a submarine launched from the MY Esperanza.

© Greenpeace 2017


Article Tagged as: Climate, Featured, in pictures