Country Clean-Up Estonian-Style

"Currently we are looking for inspired people all over the world, people who are not afraid of challenges, love their country and want to make it a better place. The idea is simple. All the active people who care about their country and the shared environment we live in  —  let's put our efforts together, to create a new wave of civic activism. Country by country."

These are the words of the Let's Do It Campaign in Estonia. The campaign is already ahead of the rest of us when it comes to cleaning up. In May of 2008, with the support of the government and big business, Let's Do It called upon Estonians to rid the entire country of illegal garbage in a single day.

Ahead of the great clean-up day, 700 volunteers scoured the country with GPS  and custom–created garbage-mapping software based on Google Earth to create what they call on their Web site, "the ugliest map ever" pinpointing 10,656 trash-point locations. Then, on the clean-up day, 50,000 volunteers showed up and collected more than 10,000 tons of waste. In one day.

Let's Do It organizers estimate on their Web site that it probably would have taken the Estonian government three years and 22.5 million Euros to accomplish the same task the people of the country performed in just five hours for half a million Euros. In the US, a similar turnout, based on the country's population, would have meant nine million people would have joined in the civic action.

Let's Do It now wants to use the same technology to build a shared platform that can be used in other countries around the globe. Lithuania and Latvia were the first to follow Estonia's lead in the summer of 2008 and again in 2009, this time with Bangalore on board. Portugal is catching the wave with it's clean-up day booked for March of 2010.

Who will be next?

Photo courtesy Lets Do It World.