Students lobby against single-use plastics
Schoolchildren, along with government officials and members of the National Trust and Plastic Free Cayman, at the presentation of the letters
(CNS Local Life): In support of World Oceans Day, 8 June, Cayman schoolchildren delivered letters to Minister of the Environment Dwayne Seymour, urging the Cayman Islands Government to ban single-use plastics. The theme of World Ocean Day 2018 is “Preventing plastic pollution and encouraging solutions for a healthy ocean”.
Students from St Ignatius Catholic School, Cayman Prep and High School, Cayman International School, Edna Moyle Primary School and Montessori by the Sea took part in the event. Other schools who participated but were unable to attend the handover were Hope Academy, Clifton Hunter High School and John A. Cumber Primary School. The children joined together to represent the youth of the Cayman Islands in order to make their voices heard on this important issue, stated a National Trust for the Cayman Islands press release.
The Trust organised the event in partnership with Plastic Free Cayman. “The continued prosperity of the Cayman Islands tourism product depends on crystal clear waters and clean beaches which face an ever-increasing threat from plastic pollution,” said the National Trust in the press release.
“The youth of the country clearly see the importance of preserving our delicate environment and hope that their ideas will be seriously considered,” the National Trust said, thanking Seymour on behalf of the organisation and the children for accepting their letters and petitions.
Also attending the event were Councillor for the Environment Capt. Eugene Ebanks, Chief Officer Jennifer Ahern, Deputy Chief Officer Nancy Bernard and Director of the Department of Environment, Gina Ebanks-Petrie, along with Nadia Hardie, Executive Director, and Catherine Childs, Education Programmes Manager, for the National Trust.
For more information, go to the National Trust website or call 749-1121
Category: Environment, Schools
No donations from Uncle “D” for this school.
They would have him go out of business.
While we’re at it, why is styrofoam still a thing? We should ban single use polystyrene (EPS), long before crusaders pin all of humanity’s environmental woes on plastic bags or straws. Why skip over the source of much of the planet’s poisonous dump leachate? Those products take decades to break down when exposed to sunlight and oxygen, and thousands of years without – slowly releasing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other toxins, which are known to kill fish, poison water tables and well water, bleach ocean reefs, and cause human cancers. Maybe do both, but don’t ignore the 800lb Gorilla in the room (brought to you by DART).
Where is the recycling machanisms that are needed best find fault for those that create them single everyday