U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas John Rood got down and dirty with crewmembers from the United States Coast Guard Cutter Farallon, staff from the United States Embassy and American residents living in The Bahamas on Friday, in a massive effort to clean up Yamacraw Beach.
The cleanup effort commemorated World Earth Day.
World Earth Day was started in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson to address environmental degradation and to bring about public awareness about the importance of preserving and protecting the global environment.
This year, communities around the world celebrated the 36th anniversary of Earth Day and staged a number of activities to help protect the global environment.
While addressing the media on Yamacraw Beach, Ambassador Rood called on residents of The Bahamas to be more environmental friendly and to try to help preserve the pristine beaches of The Bahamas.
“We are just excited to be here to take part in an Earth Day activity,” he said. “The debris on this beach is shocking and we need the beachgoers to be more environmentally friendly and protect the beaches.”
United States Coast Guard Lieutenant Kristi Bernstein said she too was happy for the opportunity to assist in the cleanup effort.
“This is just an opportunity for us to come here and police your beach, ensuring that it is clean so everyone could enjoy it,” she said.
“We do this back home a lot and now we are here today to show you how it is done. We also like to promote self cleanup because we find that people just leave objects on the beach and this is how the piles of trash are created.”
Ambassador Rood said unlike the United States, which has drilled into the minds of its residents since the 1940’s that protecting the environment is important, many residents in The Bahamas are just realizing the importance of a clean environment.
“We all want to protect our environment and the environment does not just mean keeping our beaches clean, but it is also to protect the wildlife and endangered species whether it is tortoise shells or other items that might be made from wildlife. We want to encourage people to abide by the law and do what’s necessary so that endangered species don’t become further endangered.”
He added, “We are just chipping in to do our part by cleaning up this beach and hopefully we can create more of an awareness so that persons can pick up their litter.
“I am glad to see that in The Bahamas now there are lots of signs being erected to keep The Bahamas beautiful and so we hope we can set the right example here today, so that next year when we come back hopefully we will find far more less trash.”
Noting the absence of trash receptacles on that particular beach, Ambassador Rood said that residents must adopt better recycling habits.
“More convenient recycling exercises need to occur so that water bottles and cans can’t end up on beaches and contribute to the waste,” Ambassador Rood said.
“It’s not convenient to recycle in The Bahamas like many places in the United States so once I think we adapt to better recycling habits then more persons would be inclined to keep The Bahamas clean.”
As the volunteers collected mounds of trash and filled several large trash containers, Ambassador Rood thanked Bahamas Waste Limited for agreeing to remove the trash.
It appeared that some people had used the beach to dump waste as the cleanup crew collected old cars parts, air conditioning parts, clothing, disposable plates and water bottles.
The cleanup effort came several days after the traditional Easter Monday beach day.
By: Bianca Symonette, The Bahama Journal
