Zero Emissions Day, also known as ZeDay, taking place on 21 September annually was introduced by Ken Wallace of Nova Scotia, Canada, in the eighties. The date was chosen because the length of days and nights are equal, and the amount of light is fair to those in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
The main message of this event is “Giving our planet a day off a year”, with people making sincere efforts to reduce their carbon consumption for at least a day.
The message of the campaign exists in 12 languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and English) to draw more attention to the problem of gas emissions worldwide.
Global emissions are reaching record levels and show no sign of peaking. If left unaddressed, climate change is likely to come at a significant cost to the economy and society. This includes impacts on water resources, food production and increased vulnerabilities of impoverished communities.
Air pollution does a huge amount of damage to people’s health. Worldwide, nearly 4 million people die prematurely due to ambient air pollution, caused by industries, households, cars and trucks. Exposure to traffic related air pollution has been directly linked to increases in cases of childhood asthma and early deaths. This is particularly the case for those who spend a lot of time along highly trafficked roads - like pedestrians, motorists, traffic police and street vendors.
The idea of Zero Emissions Day is simple.
- No use of fuel, oil, gas or coal;
- Minimum use of electricity (complete elimination, if possible), except for emergency services.
Join the 24-hour Moratorium on the use of Fossil Fuels on September 21 and benefit everything and everyone on the planet.
Zero Emissions Day Poster 2019 (761 KB)
