BNT celebrating Earth Day at Rand Nature Center

By Yasmin Popescu

News Reporter

yasmin@nasguard.com

A week later, but the Bahamas National Trust is celebrating Earth Day with a day of activities at the Rand Nature Center.

Also joining in the festivities are the Eco Tourism Sustainable Committee and the Keep Grand Bahama Clean Committee.

Activities begin at 8:30 a.m. with a nature walk through the Pine Forest featuring native plants traditionally used in Bahamian culture.

Earth Day is a day in which people around the world recognize the importance of protecting the earth and the environment. It was founded by Gaylord Nelson in 1970 and now more than 140 countries around the world participate in activities to demonstrate the importance of protecting the earth. The theme for this year is "Mobilize the Earth" and as always it is meant to motivate people to do their own small part to conserve and protect the environment.

Activities for the morning will include demonstrations of paper making and wood carving by the Grand Bahama Artist's Association. The Glory Harris Banks Art Gallery will feature an exhibit by the Grand Bahama Artist's Association promoting this year's international theme. The exhibit will be on display in the Glory Harris Banks Art gallery until April 30.

This Earth Day, the Rand Nature Centre will focus on presenting ideas in which individuals can get involved by making small changes in their lives that can go a long way towards protecting the environment. Activity stations featuring games and conservation ideas will be displayed as well as a "Recycling Information Station." This will feature information about local companies involved in recycling various materials; Paint Fair, The Ink Station and Shred Secure will all be participating. Shred Secure offers a paper shredding service and will shred used documents free of charge on that day. The Keep Grand Bahama Clean Committee will feature a Puppet Show on the importance of keeping our environment clean and litter free.

Nakira Wilchcombe, chairman of the committee said: "The Keep Grand Bahama Clean Committee wishes to mobilize Grand Bahama by focusing our efforts on the commitment of cleanliness with our future leaders.

"In this effort, the KGBC Committee has extended an invitation to service groups, corporate businesses and concerned citizens to act in one accord to keep Grand Bahama clean during the week of April 20-27, 2012. The level of beautification carried out by each group will include, but will not be limited to, litter clean-up, tree planting, painting and other activities."

© 2012 The Freeport News