History

One Day on Earth started in September of 2008 with the goal of creating a unique worldwide media event where thousands of participants would simultaneously film over a 24-hour period. The idea for the project was conceived while watching musicians from different regions of the world collaborate on stage at the opening night of the 2008 World festival of Sacred Music. Their initial attempts to create music together were awkward, and it was clear that they had never collaborated prior to this moment. Eventually though, over the period of a couple minutes, what was disharmony became harmony, and a beautiful fusion of music came together for the first time. The moment inspired a similar vision for another universal form of communication—cinema.

One Day on Earth grew steadily as a grassroots effort of international filmmakers dedicated to documenting the 24-hour period of October 10th, 2010 (10.10.10). In April 2010, prompted by interest from the United Nations and the international educational community, One Day on Earth moved to a social networking platform that could serve as the eventual sharing site for the growing community.

Our first media event on 10.10.10 was an amazing success. For the first time in history we created media with participants in every country of the world contributing from the same day. The United Nations and over 60 non-profit organizations participated and we collectively created over 3000 hours of video, an interactive geo-tagged archive, as well as a groundbreaking feature film.

Before 10.10.10 was even filmed, we knew that 11.11.11 and 12.12.12 would be in our future. On 11.11.11 we completed our second global filming event with even more partners. This time we were fortunate to be able to grant over 1000 cameras world wide to ensure participation from some the most difficult to document regions.

In late 2011 we also proudly created the One Day on Earth Foundation 501(c)(3) with the mission is to build, maintain, and support a global community of media creators in partnership with NGOs, media producers, and educators in order to create media that educates, informs, and inspires social change towards a more sustainable planet.

On Earth Day 2012, One Day on Earth set another world record with the most global film premiere in history by screening in over 160 countries on the same day in partnership with the United Nations.

As we look forward to our 12.12.12 event this year, we are excited to see our community grow steadily with new participants everyday, many of whom are creative professionals, teachers, or employees of non-profit charities. Together, we are creating the first truly worldwide document, where each contributor can be publicly acknowledged in an open forum. All are welcome to participate; the greater the quality and quantity of participation, the greater our impact on humanity.

Sincerely

Project Founder

Kyle Ruddick