Nat Geo News Piece About ‘Change the Course’ at We Day Seattle

A Passionate Plea to “Change the Course” and Save the Colorado River

On March 27, an estimated 15,000 young people gathered in Washington State’s KeyArena for We Day Seattle, an event “to celebrate the power of youth to create positive change in their local and global communities.”

We Day Seattle marked the first time the program came to the U.S., although it has been well known in Canada for some time. Presenters in Seattle included Magic Johnson, Martin Sheen, Jennifer Hudson, Nelly Furtado, Macklemore, and a bevy of other sports and entertainment stars. Also presenting were Martin Luther King III, “Homeless to Harvard” author Liz Murray, and other inspirational speakers.

Christian McGuigan of Participant Media (An Inconvenient Truth, Food Inc., Last Call at the Oasis) also spoke on stage about Change the Course, the campaign that Participant is running in partnership with National Geographic and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (with charter sponsor Silk).

In the above video from the event, Christian can be seen making an informed, passionate plea to save water, so the team can work together to return flows to the much diminished Colorado River.

In Participant’s words: “Pledge to shrink your water footprint at home and by being more conscious of what you eat and buy. With each pledge corporate partners will sponsor projects on the ground that keep more water in the Colorado. Every pledge will restore 1,000 gallons. Together we can Change the Course!”

Make the pledge by texting ‘River’ to 77177.

Visit the official Change the Course site to learn more and sign up here.

(Also learn more by checking out this info graphic.)

The next U.S. We Day event will take place in Minnesota on October 8th, hosted by the Jonas Brothers. Like all We Day events, young people cannot buy tickets, they must “earn” the right to attend by volunteering.

Special thanks to Silk, the Charter Sponsor for Change the Course. Additional funding generously provided by the Walton Family Foundation.

View the video here.