Istanbul for Earth Week
This week will be devoted to global awareness of the world´s climate problem‘Global Week to Act on SDGs' kicks off this weekend with a wide array of events and activities devoted to taking care of the planet.
'The Global Week to Acts on SDGs' is an annual call for individuals and organizations worldwide to come together to accelerate action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations on September 25, 2015 as a universal call to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. This now-annual global week of action is celebrated throughout the world with a variety of events and activities intending to bring awareness and accountability for the climate crisis to the forefront.
Festival for Global Climate Strike
On Friday, September 20, as the world embarks on an unprecedented global climate strike ahead of the September 23, U.N. Climate Action Summit, in Istanbul there will be festivities held at Kadıköy's Yoğurtçu Parkı starting at 4 p.m., including stands, seminars and workshops followed by a "Zero Future" concert, starting at 6 p.m. with over half a dozen of alternative and folk performers such as Lara di Lara, Nil İpek, Teneke Trampet, Muammer Ketencioğlu and Şudabap Çocuk, the latter of whom performs songs for children.
On another note, ever since last month's Muralist Festival, which takes place in Kadıköy, the image of Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist who spearheaded the Youth Strike for Climate movement and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, now adorns the side of a five-story building on Mustafa Mazharbey Sokak in Göztepe in a mural painted by Portuguese mural artists Mr. Dheo and Pariz One.
World Clean Up Day in Istanbul
September 21 is World Clean Up Day and luckily for those in Istanbul, 'Tidy Turkey', aka 'Türkiye'yi Temizle', which is an organization and community of volunteers that come together to pick up trash that was started by Australian expat Lucy Tooze, will be holding three separate "Clean Up Day" events in Üsküdar, Balat and the Princes' Islands' Kınalıada starting at noon.
Pedestrians rule in Beşiktaş
Sunday, September 22 happens to be World Car Free Day, which is devoted to encouraging motorists to give up their cars for a day and to give them and commuters the opportunity to experience their locality with lesser cars on the street. In honor of this day, Ali Suavi Street in Beşiktaş's Türkali neighborhood will be closed to traffic from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. but open to pedestrians and bikes and there will be workshops ongoing throughout the day. From toy and book swaps to trivia games about recycling, pedestrian rights and healthy eating and workshops on art, storytelling, zipline and even Japanese mask-making, there will be a wide variety of activities by day and two documentary film screenings by night, which start at 7 p.m.
Climate change meeting and screening
The co-working space and innovation lab Impact Hub, which is located in Kağıthane, will be hosting a number of events for global SDGs week, including a film screening of the Nat Geo documentary 25 Liters, which will take place on Monday, September 23, starting at 7 p.m. Following the screening, there will be a panel on "Water and Climate" issues, with speakers from National Geographic and other experts in the field.
"Our aim is to prevent the climate crisis from reaching a point of no return," said Yerli, urging society to act against climate change. Some 32,000 students from 40 schools of the Turkish Education Association will support the movement between Sept. 20-27. Young activists will raise public awareness to tackle the climate crisis by promoting the slogan "zero carbon or zero future."