The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw participated in the 25th annual Clean Up the Earth event organized by Our Earth Foundation (Fundacja Nasza Ziemia) on September 21. Our Earth Foundation is a Polish NGO that specializes in ecological education aimed at saving and protecting the earth’s natural resources. This year’s theme was “Take Action – Separate Waste! Twice as Much, Twice as Clean!” (Akcja-segregacja! 2 x wiecej! 2 x czyściej)
Chargé d’Affaires Eric Green and other U.S. Embassy employees worked alongside representatives from other diplomatic missions, including the Embassies of Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Finland, to clean up the banks of the Vistula River. Our Earth founder Mira Stanislawksa-Meysztowicz, Australian Ambassador to Poland Paul Wojciechowski, and Board President at Our Earth Foundation Sławomir Brzózek gave welcome remarks.
Participants gathered several dozen full bags of trash in less than two hours, and everyone felt that something good had been done. Sławomir Brzózek emphasized that through actions like these, the Our Earth Foundation hopes to raise awareness among people that waste is not really trash but a resource. He emphasized that separation of waste is also one of the foundations of a circular economy, a concept implemented by Poland and all other EU countries.
