A project
with a future.
The Opel initiative Project Earth supports environmental organizations in their efforts to save the last paradises on earth.
If anyone has left his mark on history, it is this man. Buzz Aldrin was the second man to walk on the moon. That happened on July 21, 1969. The former astronaut is now 81 and has decided to turn his efforts away from the moon to focus on the earth’s future. This is why he launched the Project Earth initiative along with Opel. Its aim is to encourage exceptional people and organizations that campaign to save the planet. “I have left my footprints on the moon,” says Aldrin. “But the question is: what marks are we leaving on the earth?”
Project Earth involves Opel sending a group of young scientists, led by Buzz Aldrin, to four of the last paradises on earth. The intention is not only to draw attention to the looming destruction in these areas, but also to give active support to the researchers and environmental organizations that are based there. The scientists applied to join Project Earth after an appeal was made on the Internet and were chosen from a huge number of applicants. Anyone who is interested can follow the team’s journey via social networking sites such as Facebook.
The expedition kicks off in July in the middle of the African Savanna. The participants will visit Tanzania, home to one of the best known primate researchers in the world, Jane Goodall. After a detour to the Canadian mainland, where the young scientists will meet up with Aldrin, the group then travels to the World Wildlife Fund’s base at Pond Inlet in the Arctic. The singer Katie Melua will also accompany them. She not only campaigns for environmental protection through her music, but also acts as an ambassador for Project Earth. Their journey then continues from the icy Arctic to the heat of Mexico, where the Cousteau Society is attempting there to save the few surviving examples of the vaquita porpoise. The last leg of the expedition takes place in the rainforest of Panama. This is where the Rainforest Foundation, set up by the rock star Sting, fights for the interests of the Wounaan Indians.
At each location the group chooses a project which will be promoted later by the Project Earth Foundation. But Opel’s commitment goes further than this: the car manufacturer is making a huge investment in new green technologies supporting both the vehicle’s production and the development of its powertrain. For instance, the Opel Ampera – with a range of up to 500 kilometres – will appear on the market at the end of the year as the first emission-free, electrically powered car in Europe that is suitable for everyday use. The expedition members will get the chance to road-test the Opel Ampera and experience the future of driving first-hand.
VISIT THE PROJECT EARTH MICROSITE
In the African Savanna: Serengeti means “endless plains”. But even this endless space is under threat. Along with its wildlife.
Jane Goodall: now 77, this woman has been studying chimpanzee behaviour for more than 50 years, making her work highly significant.
Destination 1: Savanna
They make tools, speak a different language, stand up for each other and hit one other on the back. They are distraught, sad, optimistic, happy, and have a sense of humour. But when Jane Goodall went to Tanzania in the 1960s, scientists still gave chimpanzees numbers to differentiate them. Jane Goodall gave them names. “We must acknowledge that we’re not the only creatures on earth with a personality,” she says, now aged 77. This British woman has been studying primates for 50 years and has made a significant contribution to the study of their way of life. The Jane Goodall Institute that she founded has been campaigning since 1977 for the protection of chimpanzees, which are increasingly under threat from humans. The participants in Project Earth will visit the researcher in Tanzania and go to one of the last sanctuaries where chimpanzees still live undisturbed. The young scientists will also find out about the TACARE (Take Care) Program launched by Goodall. This involves children and young people working on nature conservation projects.
