United States and Dominican Institutions Celebrate Earth Day

22 April 2002

United States and Dominican Institutions Celebrate Earth Day

SANTIAGO - “I am very pleased to be here with you in this ceremony honoring the Thirty-Second Anniversary of Earth Day. I am very pleased to have been invited, and I would like to point out the fact that this event is an example of what the cooperation between the public sector, the NGO´s, and the international community can achieve. Thanks to all of the government and private institutions for the leadership they demonstrated in organizing this event.” With these words United States Ambassador, Hans H. Hertell, addressed the public present in Columbus Park, in Santiago, to conclude the celebrations of Earth Day.

The ceremony began with the arrival of the participating institutions on the esplanade of the cemetery, on 30 de Marzo Street, from which they marched the Columbus Park with the Santiago Township´s Musical Band. The ceremony in Columbus Park included speeches by the Provincial Governor, the City Mayor, and the Director of the Peace Corps, as well as representatives of the Secretariat for the Environment and the Secretariat for Youth. To end the ceremony they gave out prizes to children participating in a poster contest, and a presentation by a folkloric dance group.

The concept of Earth Day was an initiative of United States Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, to whom it occurred for the first time to celebrate a World Earth Day in 1970. Every year the Peace Corps organizes and coordinates Earth Day activities with the support of government institutions and NGO´s, centering its activities on a particular city.

This year Santiago was selected as host of the event, with the cooperation of more than 15 government and non-government organizations, including are: The Secretariat of State for Youth, the Secretariat of State for the Environment, the Secretariat of State for Education, the Provincial Governor´s Office of Santiago de los Caballeros, City Hall, National Army, National Police, Civil Defense, and the Corps of Paramedic Cadets. Also participating were the Cibao Ecological Society, the Junior Chamber, Acción Callejera, the United Nations Development Program, Pronatura, NGO Alliance, the Progressio Foundation, the Center for Leadership Training and the General Directorate of Community Development, among others.

Some of the events held during the week of April 14 to 22 in recognition of Earth Day, were a garbage collection organized by the Cibao Ecological Society, a speech about environmental contamination, by the Junior Chamber. Also as part of this celebration, the Under Secretariat for Forestry Resources held a reforestation campaign on the banks of the Gurabo River.

Upon mentioning the struggle to conserve the environment, Ambassador Hertell stated: “The struggle to preserve our environment has no end. It is a struggle in which all members of society must participate: the government, the NGO´s, the international community. We are all part of the problem, and we must cooperate to resolve it.”

The large number of students participating in the ceremony led the Ambassador to proclaim them mini-ambassadors, by saying that: “I am sure that each one of these small ones will be an ecological mini-ambassador who will teach those who didn´t have the chance to participate to preserve the environment. And this is precisely the most important message and our most prioritary task: to educate future generations so that they not continue to deteriorate our surroundings, so that they assume a permanent defense of the environment and so that they establish measures which will permit the recuperation of areas already affected.”

Upon concluding the ceremony, Ambassador Hertell congratulated the participating entities for having dedicated their efforts to such a praiseworthy and necessary work as the preservation of the planet on which we live.