WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Earth Day Network (EDN) and Rovio Entertainment today released Angry Birds Champions for Earth, a weeklong global tournament that challenges players to help solve the climate crisis. The tournament begins on Monday, September 21 and coincides with Climate Week NYC. Players can compete in five languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Korean.
To create and promote the tournament, EDN partnered with UNFCCC; Connect4Climate, a Partnership Program of the World Bank; the documentary series Years of Living Dangerously; The Climate Reality Project; Water.org; UNEP; the Norman Lear Center at USC; and Ogilvy & Mather India.
The tournament features messages from global celebrities: Don Cheadle and Ian Somerhalder, UNEP Goodwill Ambassadors; comedian Danny DeVito; Matt Damon, Water.org co-founder; Indian superstars Anil and Sonam Kapoor; and members of Korean pop sensation VIXX. During the game, these popular Champions invite Angry Birds players to compete against them on the leaderboard, share facts about climate change and take action.
Christiana Figueres, the UN's top climate official and head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), narrated a video introducing Champions for Earth, with the voices of these global stars.
“We motivate people to take on climate change by reaching them where they live,” says Connect4Climate Lucia Grenna. “Incorporating climate change messages into the most popular video game ever is a great way to communicate with a broad and diverse audience.”
Players will be encouraged in five languages to take action via Earth Day Network’s online platform, where they can sign the climate petition, pledge to plant trees, tweet at elected officials, and share their passion with an #angryaboutclimatechange selfie.
“What makes this project so special for us is how so many celebrities and organizations have come together for a common cause,” says Blanca Juti, Rovio’s Chief Brand Officer. “We are delighted and grateful for everyone’s cooperation in getting angry together to raise awareness and promote action on climate change."
“We want to thank Angry Birds and all our partners,” says Kathleen Rogers, Earth Day Network president. “Mobile gaming is a powerful way to engage people of all ages—especially young people—in learning about climate change and becoming activists. We need everyone’s voices to be heard, especially as we get ready for the UN Conference in Paris this November.”
About Earth Day Network
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network works year-round with tens of thousands of partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. For more information, please visit www.earthday.org.
