Making Belize Cleaner

In a time when our young people seem to have lost their optimism, it was very refreshing to see our young people on television actively involved with the Belize Audubon Society’s third annual “Walk for a Green Belize” effort.

The “Walk for a Green Belize” project is held annually, just before Earth Day, which will be celebrated worldwide on 22 April. This year’s project is being organized in an effort to raise our environmental consciousness through direct action–cleaning up the Western highway from Belize City to Guanacaste Park. Over 15 organizations and six hundred plus volunteers including primary elementary, secondary and University of Belize students along with scouting associations participated.

The organizers were amazed by the amount and variety of garbage that was picked up during the cleanup campaign. In excess of two thousand 33-gallon bags of trash were collected.   Quite remarkable were the amount of gel energy packets, typically consumed by cyclists; Styrofoam plates, cups and empty bottles, assumed to have been thrown out of car and or bus windows.

Organizers at the Belize Audubon Society are pleased with the outcome of this exercise.   In addition to a cleaner highway, they raised the civic consciousness among Belizeans, especially the youths who participated.  Already they are thinking of next year and are planning to involve the Belize Cycling Association and the bus companies in the 2012 “Walk for a Green Belize” project.

While the Belize Audubon Society must be commended for their efforts to raise the environmental consciousness of Belizeans and assist in keeping our country clean, we Belizeans have a long way to go in keeping our jewel clean.

Although most Belizeans say they love their country, many of us don’t think twice when throwing our trash on the streets, in our towns and cities or on our highways. This is not a gesture of love, but a sign of slackness and a lack of civic pride.

It is unfortunate but we as Belizeans don’t seem to care enough to make the effort to keep our country clean.   We all know that we can do better, for when Belizeans visit Chetumal, we do not throw trash on the street; we would walk a mile with trash in hand, if necessary, and always dispose of our garbage in the proper manner.  We do this because there we obey the law and fear that if we do not; the Mexican police will come after us.

So why is it that we conduct ourselves in such an orderly way in Chetumal yet as soon as we cross the border we throw civic pride in the garbage instead of our trash? Of course there are some who will argue that we need to change the laws and make them stiffer. The problem is that we have the laws in place but we need to enforce them.

For us to start to really appreciate and love our country, we need to start at home. We need to start by keeping our yards clean, our drains free of debris and we need to teach our children the importance of keeping our neighbourhoods clean.  Likewise we must teach our children the importance of civic pride and cleanliness.  Our schools must also play a very important role in teaching our young people to have civic pride.

We live in a beautiful country and we need to protect it and keep it clean. As we prepare for the Easter holidays, many of us will be visiting the various areas of our country. Let’s start NOW and make the solemn promise that we will do everything possible to keep our country clean and beautiful. Let’s celebrate Earth Day everyday in Belize.

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