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Much internet buzz has been circulating about Prince Charles’s bid to stop deforestation. The Prince of Wales who has now been deemed the Al Gore of Britain, launched a 90 second video on youtube earlier this month, highlighting the impact deforestation has on global warming.
In this video where the prince is seen with an electronically generated frog, he quotes, “Tropical forests absorb nearly a fifth of all man-made CO2 emissions around the world. “ He also adds that although this is a great natural filter for carbon emissions, “these same rainforests are currently being destroyed at the rate of an area the size of a football pitch every four seconds.” To make matters worse these rain forests are often cleared by being burnt down, which in turn releases hundreds of years of stored up carbon emission into the atmosphere. He also notes that as rainforests are Earth’s natural air-conditioning systems clearing them contributes directly to Global warming.
Along with efforts raised virally the Prince has launched a campaign website (www.rainforestsos.org), in which this information and much more are highlighted under their about us section. The website encourages viewers to upload their own “frog” video explaining why they back The Prince’s Rainforests Project and to share the links on social networking sites. This latest effort by the Prince and many of his celebrity friends was strategized to create pressure for action ahead of the upcoming G8 Summit in May of this year as well as the U.N Climate Change Conference in December.
The internet consultancy company Blue State Digital, who was responsible for the success of President Obama’s web election campaign, provided much needed know-how and software to the Prince’s Project in order to maximize the sites impact. BSD Managing Partner Thomas Gensemer says, “the key is to make everything so user friendly that the message not the medium gets attention.”
The site which is very user friendly gives out valuable information on the rain forests and what you can do to help combat deforestation. It also highlights how businesses, non-profit organizations and schools can do their share to spread the word.
For more information see:
www.rainforestsos.org
www.myspace.com/rainforestsos
www.facebook.com/rainforestSOS
