A bit ambitious it is, but after a couple of days in Estonia there is not one of the 150 participants who is still thinking it’s impossible. We do think of blue skies. To clean rivers. And green forests. And the feasibility of the plan. The plan to Clean the World in six months. This year.
82 countries have confirmed they would participate. 19 of them have already flourished in the years before. Countries of which you would not think they could, but we must now take a deep bow for them. The deepest you can make. Cause think of it: To give your country a great Clean Up! And not on your own. No. With thousands. Hundreds of thousands of people together. A small 5 million people worldwide took part in last year’s initiative of Let’s Do It! They all cleared a piece of earth. A piece of our home.
Because that’s what this whole story is about. It’s about where we live. Where we live and move. Where our children grow up. And where we want to be Happy. We neglect it. Let’s just calmly say: ‘We fuc*ed up‘, helps occasionally. So honestly, tell me Why? Why did we do that?
At the global conference in Estonia last weekend, I repeatedly asked myself this question. Sometimes in silence, watching everybody from a seat somewhere. Sometimes in conversation. With another person who traveled north, for the same reason I went to that beautiful country, of Estonia.
And I can not help to come to the following conclusion: Half the world is to lazy. Spoiled. Accustomed to look around to the other and gently whisper, ‘I pay taxes for cleaning up my street’. The other half has to survive. Has all his energy and strength needed to stand under the yoke of the country in which it lives. And therefore so little room to take care of the environment – ‘The world doesn’t do anything back isn’t it?’.
I think it’s a sorrowful conclusion. But this is what it is.
The good news is that something is changing on our blue planet. Right now! Governments fall. Revolutions occur. Natural disasters have made themselves heard, and bells be rung. And somehow it is rumored that it ís possible. That you do not have to wait. Not for permission from the government. Not permission from your neighbors. Nor on the day, the cleaning trolley passes.
In a miraculous way on both sides of the planet people see – for whatever reason – that something must happen. And more importantly, that we have to do it! No one but us. And it is now. Because I can assure you, if we act now we will have lots of time to enjoy our clean and more then beautiful house.
I’m still thinking the Netherlands has got very little mess. And I do not think my opinion will be different in a while – Africa is full of garbage mountains. Nobody does anything. Lebanon has locations in which the color green is hardly recognizable. And how about New Delhi?
Of course, plenty of trouble in the Netherlands. I know. I live in Amsterdam West, so I can assure you that I know what rubbish is. But I also know that I – like many others – am waiting for the cleaning car in the street. Or on the parenting skills of my neighbors. Because I’m doing well. Right? The lack of the Netherlands, is a lack of awareness. Awareness of the heart. We shouldn’t map waste (we can easily pick it up) – We should map our hearts. And If we change our perspective of life, we’ll change our country.
82 countries are going to clean the next six months. 82 countries. Filled with people who have heard the rumor, and believe it can be done. 82 countries with people who look in the mirror, instead of waiting for permission from someone else. 82 countries to help. 82 countries do. 82 countries full of distinctive talent. With people who dare. All with the courage to let go of the no-voices around us. And choose for themselves. Because ultimately it comes down to this: To choose for you! For your heart, your spirit and your house. Nobody else will do it though. It’s you. It’s us. We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for.
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