Taking a step towards equality, sustainability and a responsible digital environment
The Zonta e-Club of Latvia organized various activities to raise awareness of climate justice, sustainable lifestyles and responsible behaviour towards the environment, both in everyday life and in the digital space for Earth Day 2026.
On 22 April, the club joined Zonta International’s global initiative, 'Step Forward for Equality', which highlights the connection between climate justice, sustainability and gender equality. Alongside Zonta clubs worldwide, the club members took a symbolic step forward for equality, using footprints to represent our collective journey towards a fairer and more sustainable future. The club is proud that its footprints are part of the shared journey, too.
To celebrate Earth Day, a special video in Latvian was created. The video invited people to pause their daily hustle and bustle, listen to nature and consider their personal responsibility towards the planet. It emphasised that even small daily steps can create significant change and help forge a more sustainable future.
At the same time, club members actively participated in the Big Cleanup (Lielā Talka), an initiative that has brought people across Latvia together in a shared commitment to the environment since 2008. The Big Cleanup aims to "make Latvia and the Baltic Sea region the cleanest place on the world map”, encouraging the public to clean up their surroundings and to consider adopting a sustainable lifestyle and a responsible attitude towards natural resources.
Although the official Big Cleanup day was 25 April, the Zonta e-Club of Latvia launched its Digital Cleanup on 20 April, offering the public special daily tasks throughout the week. Each day focused on a different aspect of organising the digital environment, encouraging people to reduce their digital pollution gradually and develop more sustainable digital habits.
The event drew special attention to the fact that digital pollution is an invisible yet significant environmental problem today. Files, photos and emails are stored on servers whose operation requires significant energy. Therefore, the club emphasised that sustainable thinking applies not only to the environment around us, but also to our digital habits and daily use of technology. On social networks, the club called for:
- Deleting unnecessary files and photos
- Organizing the content of computers and phones
- Cleaning out email inboxes
- Unsubscribing from unnecessary newsletters
- Reviewing the content on the “Downloads” folder
- Reduce the digital footprint.
During the Digital Cleanup, people were encouraged not only to organize their devices, but also to realize that even small actions can make a significant contribution to building a more sustainable future. The club encouraged the public to think about the digital environment just as responsibly as they do about the natural world, because caring for the planet begins with every choice we make.
As part of the digital help, an open lecture was also organized at the Zonta e-academy, to which everyone interested was invited. The goal of the lecture was to practically demonstrate how to organize your digital environment wisely and safely - delete unnecessary files, organize the information on your computer, organize the content of your e-mails, and improve digital security. Participants were encouraged to develop thoughtful digital habits that simultaneously help reduce digital pollution and make daily life safer and more efficient.
By combining public education, practical action and support for gender equality, the club is creating a more responsible, just, and sustainable world one step at a time.