With recent scientific and geological studies elucidating a change in global temperatures and weather patterns, Earth Day is more crucial than ever. Occurring every year on April 22, this special day commemorates the beauty of our natural environment, while also reinstating the universal plight to try and mend the ecological hardships humans have caused.
Pokémon Go will be doing its part to try and get its vast pool of users to engage in some environmentally-friendly behaviour during this year's Earth Day. Since the video game has been able to congregate large masses of people out in public spaces, they are using this to their advantage by rewarding players for picking up garbage and cleaning up the area they are playing within. The more people who show up, the better the in-game rewards will be.
Niantic, the software company that has developed the game, released a statement outlining their initiatives to get fans of Pokémon Go to help declutter Earth. "All trainers will receive access to a special avatar item to celebrate Earth Day and those who work together to participate in the cleanups around the world will unlock unique in-game rewards for the entire world. If 1,500 trainers attend the events around the world, 2x catch stardust for ground, water, and grass-type pokémon will be unlocked for 48 hours. If more than 3,000 trainers participate in the clean up events, 3x catch stardust for ground, water, and grass-type pokémon for 48 hours will be unlocked for trainers around the world."
The company's CEO John Hanke notes how "Earth Day is an incredible movement and opportunity to team up with friends and neighbors to focus on making the world and our own communities healthy and sustainable."
There will be 37 events spread out across 12 countries; peep the list right here.