Climate Change is an undeniable reality. The average temperature at the Earth's surface has risen about 1.1C since 1850. Since the industrial revolution, the CO2 concentration has risen to its current level of nearly 420 parts per million (ppm), while for the 800,000 years before that, the level did not go above 300 ppm.
With Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melting rapidly, the number of weather-related disasters has increased five times over 50 years, and global sea levels rising 20 cm in the last century alone, there is no bigger need than to protect our planet.
Global leaders know it's time for action, as evidenced by the UN-brokered Paris Accord of 2015. And what could be better than having a sports legend as one of the most prominent faces in this crusade against climate change?
The GOAT
Lionel Messi is the GOAT. With 800+ goals scored in over 1000 matches in his career so far, Messi's outstanding achievements reflect only on the field but also on his social media.
With a little more than 1,000 posts, Messi's Instagram feed has 477 million+ followers. With such global popularity, it is no wonder that whatever Lionel Messi posts on his feed is set to take the internet by storm.
Messi's latest Instagram video was no exception. Somewhat cryptic, Messi's 33-second-long video has already garnered close to 5 million likes and more than 26,000 comments, and these numbers are increasing fast.
The video, produced with supremely sophisticated visual graphics, has something to do with saving our planet and environment. As Messi kicks away a graphical can with Pollution inscribed on it, the video unveils the potential that mother earth has in store for us and how we need to undo many of our actions to bring it back to its pristine form.
The video does not divulge much by narrating a story through texts or words. And inferences have only come out from the suggestive visuals. The post caption only says this much: 'Vengo trabajando en algo...' or 'I have been working on something...'.
Yet, there is something that netizens have not failed to notice. The imaginary city that Messi is walking through has the logo of a Blockchain venture called $PLANET on one of its billboards. Looking closely, one may also notice the phrase 'Join the Planet' written on the billboard, along with the logo of the PLANET platform.
This find has given rise to speculation on what blockchain venture Planet is all about.
Project $PLANET: What's the GOAT gotten into?
Introduced as a fair launch on May 30th, 2022, $PLANET appears much more than a blockchain project. It calls itself a global movement that leverages blockchain's potential to solve some of the most pressing social and sustainability challenges for the earth's future.
The vision of the project has resonated with its community. Its Twitter handle has around 65K followers, while the Telegram channel thrives with more than 27K members.
The $PLANET token, a gateway to participate and contribute to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, first made its appearance on the Ethereum blockchain. However, it bridged over to Binance's Smart Chain (BSC) on June 18th, 2023. It is now available on Uniswap V2, PancakeSwap, Gate.io, Bitget, MEXC, Bitmart, and Poloniex.
Planet's declared vision is to optimize the benefits of blockchain beyond finance to empower efforts targeted at reversing climate change, safeguard endangered ecosystems, and help thrive the world towards a sustainable future. In achieving its goal, the project wants to work with the world's biggest celebrities, or GOATS in their field, who hold the cause of a sustainable future close to their hearts.
We know we will be watching Planet's channels closely to see how this unfolds.
