Environmental calendar days are cropping up more and more frequently. If it’s not global recycling day, it’s Earth Hour, Arbour Day, World Wetlands Day, World Water Day, or International Composting Awareness Week, to name just a few. While we have always celebrated the international days for animals and the people that care for animals, we at Londolozi have added these days of recognition for our planet to our calendars each year. For me it is very heartening to see how millions of people around the world have begun to celebrate and remember the environment, the planet, our world and all who inhabit it. It shows positive signs of growth and of an ancient remembering for a care of wilderness that is critical to our lives.

Today is one of those such days as we along with millions of other people recognise World Earth Day. Not to be confused with Earth Hour or Global Recycling Day, World Earth Day is now the largest secular observance in the world, celebrated by more than a billion people every year, and a day of action that changes human behaviour and provokes policy changes.

Next year, Earth Day will celebrate it’s 50th anniversary which is an incredible achievement in a world where instant gratification has become so important and where we seem to have lost the patience to slowly, steadily work towards a common goal.

World Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970. It started in the USA but has since become a globally recognized cause. It is observed in 192 countries and has brought 20 million people together in a peaceful demonstration of environmental reforms. The Earth Day network works year round to solve climate change, to end plastic pollution, to protect endangered species and to broaden, educate and activate environmental movements across the globe.

It’s no secret that at Londolozi we are very passionate about being a quiet global force for good. We have been on many varying and important environmental journeys since our humble beginning in 1926. We started on our 93-year journey to care for the land, the wildlife and the people in order to make our environment thrive. More recently, we proudly fly our sustainability flag with a host of best practices that will ensure that our footprint on our immediate environment is as light as we can make it (much more about this to come in a future series, so stay tuned…). and that we continue to be a beacon for those who wish to share in what we do in order for this awareness and love for our wilderness to grow and expand as much as possible. All of this to ensure that we look after our wilderness home, foster the behavioral changes necessary to pass on a new way of being in this world, and, in turn, begin to contribute to the global traction that has begun to build… evident on days like today.

The theme for this year’s Earth Day is Protect Our Species. Every year, we recognize and celebrate World Rhino Day and we are proud that safe havens like Londolozi still exist in which rhino species are protected around the clock, and the integration of advanced technologies into anti-poaching efforts have meant that the men and women protecting rhinos on the ground can be one step ahead of would-be poachers.

There is no right or wrong way to recognize World Earth Day. Just in reading this, and taking a moment to think of your own impact, great and small, is a step in the right direction. Maybe take some time out of your daily routine to search for what others are doing today. Take a look through some Instagram feeds about #ZeroWaste to see the small changes that people are implementing around the world in their daily routines. Join in on some of the planned Earth Day events. For us, these small acts of kindness to the planet are what it takes for the rudder to slowly shift in the right direction. And, if you are a guest who has visited Londolozi before, or are booked or planning to come and visit us, know that for every night that you spend at Londolozi you help to protect 6 rhinos.

Happy World Earth Day… to you and to us and to everyone around the globe. We share this one planet, and every moment spent protecting it and changing our own behaviour is a moment very well spent.