The hottest new Estonian export is not a product or a service. It is the deceptively simple idea that, if you make it fun, and create a sufficiently groovy vibe around it, you can mobilize huge numbers of people to clean up massive amounts of illegally-dumped garbage — all in one day. The concept, perhaps better described as a movement, is called Let’s Do It!
Estonia first “did it” almost two years ago, effectively demonstrating the concept on the 3rd of May, 2008. The country mobilized 50,000 volunteers to clean up 10,000 tons of garbage: trash that had been dumped illegally in forests and meadows, along roadsides and riverbeds, all over the country.
It took a lot of planning. For months beforehand, volunteers had crisscrossed the country on foot with GPS-enabled cell phones to map the illegally-dumped garbage. Then they created an effective marketing buzz around the project, getting politicians and celebrities involved, and succeeded in achieving something quite remarkable: they made garbage collection cool.
Let's Do It! volunteers demonstrate an uncanny enthusiasm for their work
Now word has spread. A conference held in Tallinn last weekend attracted eight countries: Slovenia, Portugal, Romania, India, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. The movement has put up a website. And they’ve attracted the notice of media outlets as far afield as France, India, and Singapore.
So pick up some trash. You’ll be cool if you do.
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