Celebrities joined Prince William in London on Sunday for the opening ceremony of his Earthshot Prize, an ambitious environmental program that aims to find new ideas and technologies around the world to address climate change and the world’s most pressing challenges.
Winners announced on Sunday included the Government of Costa Rica, which was being honored for a project that pays local citizens to restore natural ecosystems, and the city of Milan, which received an award for their Food Waste Hubs program that recovers food from supermarkets and restaurants and distributes it to those in need.
The actors Emma Thompson, Emma Watson and David Oyelowo presented the awards together with William and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, at Alexandra Palace in North London.
Guests were asked to “consider the environment when choosing their outfit,” and Watson arrived wearing a dress made up of 10 wedding dresses from the Oxfam charity. Kate wore an Alexander McQueen dress made for her in 2011, while her husband wore a dark green velvet blazer and polo collar.
William and his charity, the Royal Foundation, created the Earthshot Prize last year, inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 “Moonshot” speech that challenged and inspired Americans to go to the moon.
Awarded to five winners annually through 2030, the award is considered the most prestigious of its kind. Each winner will receive a grant of £ 1 million ($ 1.4 million) to develop and expand their ideas.
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“There have been a lot of great ideas in the last few decades, but it’s the implementation that really counts, that’s what this is all about. So it’s really a good reason to be happy, ”said Thompson.
The other winners were a land-based coral farm in the Bahamas to restore dying coral reefs; a green hydrogen technology developed to transform the energy supply of homes and buildings; and an India-based technology that makes fuel from agricultural waste to stop crops from burning.
William said he wanted the initiative to bring some optimism to the climate debate, and on Sunday he urged young people not to give up hope for the future.
“We haven’t done enough for too long to protect the planet for your future. The Earthshot is for you, ”he said. “We will act in the next 10 years. We will find the solutions to repair our planet. “
The United States will host the awards ceremony next year, he added.
The ceremony took place days before the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow, which begins on October 31st. William, his father Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II are all expected.
Earlier this week, William criticized the space race and space tourism, saying in an interview that the world’s greatest minds should focus on fixing the earth rather than “trying to find the closest place to live and live.” “.
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