Plans Revealed for London 2012 World Sport Day, Presented by Lloyds TSB

(PRWEB) January 24, 2012

Schools and colleges across the UK are today encouraged to start planning how they are going to celebrate the athletes and cultures of the world on London 2012 World Sport Day, presented by Lloyds TSB, on Monday 25 June 2012.

The day, which will open Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week in England and Wales, will give thousands of young people in schools across the UK the chance to take part in the final UK-wide Get Set event before the London 2012 Games begin.

The plans for London 2012 World Sport Day were announced today at the Copper Box in the Olympic Park. Get Set Network schools Ripple Primary School and Jo Richardson Secondary, both from Barking and Dagenham, took part in the announcement as well as Olympic Gold Medallist Jonathan Edwards, Team GB athletes Zoe Smith and Charlie Walker, Fijian athlete Sisilia Nsigia Rasokisoki and New Zealand athlete Jonathan Paget.

Download images for media use from the launch here from 11.30am

Students from schools and colleges will be encouraged to celebrate the athletes and cultures of the world on the day in a variety of ways including staging their own World Sport Day opening ceremony and profiling the sports, music, dance, languages, flags and food of the world.

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) will provide resources to schools through the official London 2012 education programme ?Get Set?, including tips from the London 2012 Ceremonies team of producers on how to host an opening ceremony for World Sport Day. Schools can download a planning guide to help them to prepare for their day at http://www.london2012.com/worldsportday

LOCOG will also be releasing and promoting new resources every month to help schools plan their day and decorate their school for the celebrations. Schools can request their free event pack on the World Sport Day website; the pack is full of branded materials and decorations, with schools in the Get Set network receiving access to extra materials and opportunities.

In England and Wales, London 2012 World Sport Day, delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, will act as the opening ceremony of Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week, giving schools a great opportunity to kick off a week of school sport and celebrations.

Seb Coe, London 2012 Chair, said: ?With the Games almost here, World Sport Day presented by Lloyds TSB is a fantastic opportunity to bring the young people of the UK together on one day to celebrate our amazing athletes from all over the world, and their nations and cultures. The day will showcase all the work young people are doing on the teams they have been supporting ? whether as a class, a year group or a whole school community. We want to encourage schools to involve parents, governors, members of the wider community and other local schools to join together on 25 June for what will be a great celebration of sport and cultures of the world.?

Team GB athlete Zoe Smith said: ?The Games are the world?s greatest festivals of sport and London 2012 World Sport Day is a great way to celebrate how London 2012 will bring athletes together from so many different cultures. I have always been inspired by the Games, mainly because it provides a platform to learn about athletes, cultures, food and language from all over the world. I?m delighted to be part of World Sport Day and to see how it will help young people to learn about these different elements, as well as getting excited about the Games!'

Sally Hancock, Director, 2012 Partnership and Group Sponsorship at Lloyds Banking Group said: ?Since 2008 Lloyds TSB has supported millions of young people in schools across Britain to do more sport through National School Sport Week. As the Presenting Partner of London 2012 World Sport Day, Lloyds TSB is proud to inspire a new generation of young people to try new sports, embrace the Olympic and Paralympic values, and prepare to welcome the world to the UK for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We?re looking forward to sharing the excitement of World Sport Day with schools in our communities as it marks the first day of National School Sport Week 2012.?

World Sport Day builds on the ?Support a Team? initiative launched by LOCOG in November 2011 as part of the ?Get Set goes global? programme through which schools across the UK were invited to become a supporter of at least one Olympic team and one Paralympic team, along with Team GB and ParalympicsGB, in the lead-up to the London 2012 Games.

Some schools are already planning their celebrations. Roger Mitchell, Headteacher at Ripple Primary School in Barking and Dagenham, said: ?Here at Ripple Primary School we are proud to hold a yearly Cultural Diversity fortnight. During this time, each class learns about a particular country and then puts on a showcase to celebrate that country?s culture. World Sport Day gives us the opportunity to both celebrate the London 2012 Games and incorporate the Cultural Diversity work and sports activities that our young people enjoy so much. Because we have a wonderful Samba band at our school, we will be supporting the Team Brazil on London 2012 World Sport Day and joining thousands of other schools across the UK in this occasion.?

For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office

Notes to editors:

Schools need to be registered with the Get Set education programme to be able to access the World Sport Day resources. For more information on Get Set and schools who wish to register please visit http://www.london2012.com/getset

Lloyds TSB is the official Banking and Insurance Partner of London 2012 ? for more information please visit http://www.lloydstsb.com/london2012

London 2012 Games partners:

The Worldwide Olympic Partners who support the London 2012 Olympic Games and the National Olympic Committees around the world are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow, GE, McDonald?s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.

LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters ? Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers ? Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield.

There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games-only Partner, Sainsbury?s and one domestic Tier Three Paralympic Games-only Supplier, Otto Bock. The London 2012 Paralympic Games also acknowledges the support of the National Lottery.

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Latin America 2030 Scenarios Presented on January 26th: Global Futurists and Scholars Discuss the 2011 State of the Future in Valencia, Venezuela

(PRWEB) January 25, 2012

The University Jos? Antonio P?ez (UJAP: http://www.ujap.edu.ve) is one of the major academic institutions with over 13,000 students distributed in Valencia and other centers across Venezuela. UJAP will host the next presentation of the Latin America 2030 Scenarios and the 2011 State of the Future.

The Millennium Project (http://www.millennium-project.org) was created in 1996 as the first global think tank, conducting independent futures research through its 40 nodes around the world, connecting local and global perspectives. The nodes are groups of people and institutions that bring together the brains of the region and the feedback from the overall results. It has the support of United Nations organizations, multinational corporations, universities, foundations and governments of many countries like Azerbaijan, Kuwait, South Korea and the USA.

The Millennium Project is a global think tank that conducts futures research, consisting of more than three thousand scientists, intellectuals, artists, entrepreneurs, academics, politicians, and journalists. They are dedicated to the study of the future and generating ideas for improving the human condition gathered in forty nodes located on every continent.

The 2011 State of the Future finds the world is getting richer, healthier, better educated, living longer, and is more peaceful and better connected; yet half the world is potentially unstable. The food prices are rising, water tables are falling, corruption and organized crime is increasing, environmental viability to sustain life is declining, debt and growing economic insecurity in rising, climate change continues, and the gap between the rich and poor is widening dangerously.

According to Jose Cordeiro, Venezuelan director of the Millennium Project and coordinator of the Latin America 2030 Scenarios, the region has to move forward and look to the future now that is celebrating the bicentennial of its independence. Latin America is currently at a crossroad and a vision of the future is fundamental to improve the living conditions of the expected 700 million Latin Americans alive by 2030. Thus, the Millennium Project devised four possible scenarios to the year 2030 based on the input of over 500 futurists from 60 countries in all continents. Cordeiro said that, ?If Latin America changes its vision of the future, it has the opportunity to join the rank of developed countries by 2030.?

The world is in a race between implementing ever-increasing ways to improve the human condition and the seemingly ever-increasing complexity and scale of global problems. The global future can become far more unstable and dangerous if we do not take urgent measures to fight global organized crime, corruption and climate change.

It states that significant improvements are being made in reducing poverty, extending longevity, and limiting conflict. However, the battle against the growth of carbon emissions, rising temperatures, unemployment, corruption and terrorism are being lost. In 2010, 90 percent of global natural disasters, which killed 295,000 people at an approximate cost of 130 billion dollars, were related to climate and climate exchange rates.

The number of unstable states grew from 28 to 37 between 2006 and 2011, even though there are fewer wars, which fell to 10 from 14 the previous year. Half of the world remains vulnerable to social instability and violence. The inequalities are compounded by the rising costs of food, water and energy, which could result in 400 million migrants in 2050.The report also contains a State of the Future Index, based on analysis and evaluation of 700 experts from around the world based on 28 factors, including education, health, wealth, conflict, freedom and the environment. The Index shows a period of 10 years of improvement, but warns that "there is no guarantee of a bright future.?

The 2011 State of the Future is a summary of our overall situations, problems, solutions and prospects for the future, from the 15 Global Challenges. These include energy, food, science and technology, ethics, development, water, organized crime, health, decision making, gender relations, demography, war and peace, and others. The recommendations are specifically targeted to senior executives, thought leaders, strategic planners, public policy experts, political advisors, non-profit organizations, teachers / professors and anyone interested in an overview of our prospects for the future. This report analyzes a wide range of policy initiatives geared toward the future, such as: potable water, seawater-based agriculture, environmental safety in the central United States and China, strategic trust, a comprehensive strategy to combat organized crime and collective intelligence.

According to Jerome Glenn, executive director of the Millennium Project and one of the authors of the report, there is room for optimism: "If we can improve our decision making as individuals, groups, nations, and institutions the world will be better than it is today."

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