The physical education class taught by Mr. Schrader came out on Dec. 12, 2011 excited to pick up trash instead of going running or doing pushups.
Gloves and trash bags were provided by the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance, and once they were handed out to the students, they sped off. Some went off to the beach area while some steered closer to the parking lot or the road side. After about an hour, the students wrapped up their work and got together for a group photo. Their instructor was also busy picking up the overlooked candy wrappers and etc. About 30 pounds of trash was prevented that day consisting of plastic bottles, paper cups, food wrappers and plastic utensils. About eight to ten pounds were recycled material and the remaining could not be recycled.
Every year, our beaches and parks are swarmed with litter posing great threats to our marine and terrestrial animals. A lot of the litter closely resembles the diets of many marine animals such as plastic bags that resemble jellyfish; which turtles love to munch on! With more and more volunteers gained every day, we can hope to see cleaner beaches and less threats to our coral reefs, the wildlife around them, and restore pride to our island paradise.
This is only one of the many volunteer events among our community. More help is needed as more and more trash is littered everyday! Be a volunteer and help rid our beaches and parks of all litter and help recycling efforts in our island.
For information on how you can join the fight for a beautiful CNMI, you may contact Sam Sablan at 233-REEF or e-mail at [email protected].
