Kierman was born in Sydney, Australia, and grew up near the sea. For more than 40 years, he raced in international sailing competitions.
In 1987, Kierman was competing in an around-the-world race when he began to 21 the huge amount of rubbish in the world’s oceans. When he returned to Australia, he 22 to do something about it.
He organized a community 23 called “Clean Up Sydney Harbour.” On Sunday, January 8, 1989, more than 40,000 volunteers came out to 24 away rubbish. The next year, Kierman made the clean-up a national event. It was a huge 25 . Across Australia, about 300,000 people spent the day improving their local 26 .
Since then, “Clean Up Australia” has got 27 every year. In 2002, for example,800,000 people cleaned up almost 15,000 tons of rubbish from Australia’s beaches, parks and streets.
Kierman was 28 with the success of his project. In 2003, he started an even bigger program. With the 29 of the United Nations Environment Program, he introduced “Clean Up the World”, an international program that supports communities around the world in cleaning up and protecting the environment. “Clean Up the World” has grown 30 and his wonderful idea has now spread from one city to the whole world.