Invitation to Celebrate Earth Day as a Global Network! ~ Instagram Competition

We would like to invite all our schools and educational communities to take part in this Instagram competition, which was started by FLACSI, to celebrate Earth Day, on April 22nd. #WeAreAllEarth.

Instagramcompetition

Celebrate Earth Day this year in a special and meaningful way. Join this international competition (initiated by FLACSI) open to all students, faculty and staff of our Jesuit schools in all six Jesuit Regions of the world: Africa and Madagascar, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America and South Asia.

The Society of Jesus invites us to be aware that we are living in a common home, and so it is our responsibility to take care of the Earth. As human beings, historically, we have a destructive relationship with the Earth… we are killing it!

For example, are you aware that..

–       We waste a huge amount of water in our day to day lives? Simply by taking a shower, we use 20 litres of water per minute. This means that 50% of the world’s wetlands would have disappeared in the last century. There are currently 1,000 million people who don’t have access to drinking water and as this is a vital element for the human being, rights such as health and food are also affected.

–       We are responsible for deforestation of the world? Each of us consume 48kg of paper per year, that’s one tree every year. This contributes to the fact that each minute the equivalent of 36 soccer pitches is lost to deforestation (and every year an area the size of Panama!). Cutting down forests reduces the capacity for oxygen generation which means that we have less and less clean air available for breathing.

These are just some of the results of the relationship we, as humans, have had with the Earth. That is why we would like to invite you to show the importance of making a commitment to transform the way we relate to the world around us … our commitment to the care of our common home, because at the end of the day, « We are all Earth »!

To participate in the competition:

1)       Invite students, teachers and other staff members to take original and creative photos which reflect the relationship they have with nature by highlighting a natural space inside or outside the school and somehow interacting with this space. (Whether it’s sea, mountains, fields, woods… etc. as long as it’s a natural space). The use of filters and photoshop is permitted.

2)       Post the photo(s) on Instagram, from the official account of your school or from a personal account, with the phrase and the hashtag: We are a Jesuit school and we care for (whichever aspect of nature appears in the photo e.g. the mountains) of our common home because #WeAreAllEarth, as well as with your network’s hashtag. Africa & Madagascar = #JESAMED, Asia Pacific = #JCAP, Europe = #JECSE, Latin America = #FLACSI, North America = #JSN,  South Asia = #JEA.

Please publish photos before April 7th!

Five finalists of each region will be selected and the winner of each region will be announced on the 22nd of April – International Earth Day.

The winner will be presented on all of FLACSI’s communication channels and announced to the global network of Jesuit schools here on Educate Magis. They will also receive special recognition for their winning entry.

Let us, as a global network, show the whole world our commitment to caring for and respecting our common home!