Turkey's Changemakers: 'Play For Nature' creates nature awareness through social media
Metin Türkcan
The Sabancı Foundation’s “Turkey’s Changemakers” program, which aims to promote social development and awareness and ultimately mobilize active citizenship by inspiring and encouraging others, is continuing for its fourth season! The first Changemaker of the fourth season is “Play For Nature,” which is a project from agaclar.net. By using music as a common language, “Play For Nature” aims to draw attention to the activities of organizations which have successfully been working for nature and the conservation of natural habitats.
“Play For Nature” brought together 45 musicians in its first project, 91 in its second and 106 in its third. All musicians played and sang for nature. In April, 76 musicians came together again to play and sing three Turkish movie soundtracks composed by Cahit Berkay, a well-known Turkish musician. Having attracted many people, the music videos are also viewed in music classes at schools and given as homework to students. These videos, as such, contribute to create awareness about nature. Some 15,000 users have visited the website of the project at www.dogaicincal.com, while 123,000 people are following the project’s Facebook page. The videos have been watched by 7,350,000 people on YouTube, and 14,000 musicians have applied to take part in the next “Play For Nature” project.
By publishing their logos and directing viewers to the
NGOs that work to protect nature, “Play For Nature” supports many environmental
organizations such as the Turkish Environmental and Woodlands Protection
Society (TÜRÇEK), the Association For Nature, the World Wildlife Fund, the
Buğday Association For Supporting Ecological Living, the Foundation for the
Protection and Promotion of the Environment and Cultural Heritage (ÇEKÜL), the
Turkish Marine Environment Protection Association (TÜRMEPA) and the Turkish
Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion, for Reforestation and the Protection of
Natural Habitats (TEMA).