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Show island pride, adopt a beach
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Posted on May 14 2008
“Tourism is everybody’s business” is the slogan for this year’s CNMI Tourism Month, and Marianas Visitor’s Authority organized a cleanup day to kick off the scheduled activities.
Tinian will also be going green this month, with various organizations and student clubs cleaning up trash, planting trees and ornamentals at bare roadsides and other sites for visiting tourists and island residents.
So why not choose the month of May to show your island pride and adopt a beach.
The Division of Environmental Quality coordinates the Adopt A beach program. “The Adopt-a-Beach program is an anti-litter and beach clean up campaign intended to promote pride and natural resource stewardship in the Commonwealth,” said Reina Camacho, DEQ’s spokesperson.
Camacho added there are many benefits to the program. It keeps our beaches clean and safe; enhances and preserves the environment; improves attractiveness of our beaches; increases public awareness of the effects of littering; reminds people not to litter. Families, schools, businesses and community-based organizations can participate in the year-round program by cleaning beaches, conducting litter monitoring and ensuring beautiful and clean marine waters.
Camacho said, “litter is not only unattractive; it is also harmful to the environment. Did you know it takes over hundreds and hundreds years for plastic and styrofoam containers to decompose?”
Groups can adopt a beach at any time and are asked to clean the entire beach park four times a year (depending on the volume of anticipated litter) for at least one year. DEQ will also supply litterbags and gloves for the adoption (upon request and availability of supplies). Joint adoptions (two or more organizations) are also encouraged.
Show island pride; join the Adopt A Beach program. Sign up today at environment@deq.gov.mp or visit DEQ online at http://www.deq.gov.mp. [B][I](Coco)[/I][/B]
