Earth Day celebrated at UB in recycled style
Across the globe, about five hundred million people are taking part in celebrations for Earth Day 2012 to generally create awareness for the natural environment and to highlight conservation efforts. While Earth Day is on Sunday, in Belize, the activities kicked off in Belmopan today where the environmental community was out in full force at the UB campus. The overriding message was for the use of alternative energy. News Five’s Jose Sanchez reports.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
The planet has been under constant threat from deforestation and global warming. The manmade problems affecting the earth can only be solved by people. The University of Belize’s celebration of Earth Day 2012 is guided by the theme ‘A New Wave of Green Energy.’ UB Lecturer Joaquin Magana says we need to depend less on fossil fuels.
Joaquin Magana
Joaquin Magana, Lecturer/Coordinator UB Earth Day
“Earth day is celebrated here at the university, it’s an annual event and this is the sixth annual event that we are celebrating. The concept is about, this year, is about trying to move from fossil fuels and to use alternative energy. So that is why as you can see our theme is a new wave of green energy. Fossil fuels on the longer run is having a great impact on us in terms of global warming and global climate changes will affect us directly, particularly Belize City because global warming caused by the increase of carbon dioxide which is one of the gases that is emitted from burning of fossil fuels and this will cause increase in temperatures, the polls will melt and then the sea level is expected to rise. Belize City runs the risk of being under water.”
One local clothing designer showed that recycling can be fashionable, in the full auditorium, designs made from garbage and paper were sewn into modern outfits that were strut on the walkway.
Earth Day is organized by UB students who have devised activities and prizes for primary, secondary and tertiary level entries from across the country.
Loretta Logan, Leader, U.B. Earth Day
Loretta Logan
“The idea basically is about spreading environmental awareness and this year, you may have heard the theme before and what we gear towards is about environmental awareness—how can we promote alternative energy source and how can we have the different kids do practical things to show us that they have learned about these alternative energy source and you know this will trickle down and it will spread into the family and into the wider community on a whole. We had primary, secondary and tertiary and we had three different competitions. We had a poem competition where you get to be literal or abstract in a written form and we’ve gotten some wonderful abstract poems from our university students and we’ve even gotten a beautiful one from a primary school student.”
{Primary School Student reciting poem…}
Loretta Logan
“We also have a creative art competition. And that one I would say leaved us in awe where the students actually went beyond what we expected and they did 3D images which is a first time thing for the university and all the materials are either recycled or biodegradable. So that was something that we were really impressed with. And then we had our tertiary student who took the time to collect all the corn flake boxes, and all those things that you wouldn’t thing a student would use and create something beautiful out of it with the windmills that we have to day. All day we have the booth displays, we have games, we have students with informational booths, we also have out highlight for today which is the trash and fashion where our primary, secondary and tertiary students get to display different clothing out of recycled material. To be able to show you that there is a creative approach and how we can recycle our waste.”
Primary school students competed in a fashion show in which they added recycle material to their outfits.
Joaquin Magana
“This year we were able to include a lot of schools as you can see. We have a lot of primary schools, secondary schools that have visited and we, apart from bringing them in to see what our day si all about, we’re trying also to follow up and ensure that this doesn’t end today and we continue later on.”
It must continue, as environmentalists are battling offshore drilling concessions and seismic testing in national parks. The primary, secondary and tertiary students who participated in today’s Earth Day at the gym, will be tomorrow’s environmentalists on a national stage. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.
Saint John’s College Junior College will also have several events leading up to earth week. The school’s Group for Environment and Conservation Outreach (GECO) as well as the Wave Makers will participate in the “Walk a Green Mile” march, in which students will be cleaning up the Western Highway followed by an eco-friendly painting event on Saturday. Then on Monday, the GECO Club will distribute bio-degradable bracelets on campus promoting anti littering and recycling. They hit the pavement again on Tuesday with a cleanup campaign on Princess Margaret Drive.
