US Embassy celebrates Earth Day

Tuesday, 23 April 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Over 40 U.S. Embassy employees, Sri Lankan and American, joined together to clean litter from the beach along the Galle Face promenade in honor of Earth Day. Scouring the sand with trash bags, staff picked up enough garbage to fill the back of a pick-up truck.

Earth Day was created in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. Every year on April 22 people around the world take time out of their day to help clean the environment. Today, it is estimated that over one billion people participate in Earth Day, the largest day of civic activism.

Climate change is a top priority for the second term Obama administration, as well as a personal priority of Secretary of State John Kerry. The U.S. Embassy in Colombo’s “Green Team” works to improve energy efficiency in the mission and reduce waste. The U.S. has made substantial progress in reducing emissions in recent years and the country is taking additional, strong executive action to address major polluting sources going forward.

Caption for attached photograph: Ambassador Sison and U.S. Embassy staff celebrated Earth Day by cleaning enough trash from Galle Face to fill a pick-up truck.