|
published on 05/25/2006
Good Things Happening at Caribbean SEA
By
Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance
 |
I spent a few days looking over possibilities in Grenada with Caribbean SEA (Student Environmental Alliance) Board Member Dr. Valma Jessamy. The most needed opportunity there will be to help replant the rain forest, which was devastated during the hurricanes the last two years. Valma will help initiate the "Plant a Tree in the Rainforest" campaign.
Next, I spent a week in Dominica working with teachers at Community
High School to develop a student action program which will complement their curriculum. We received great input from the Forestry Department and Vanessa Prevost of the SUN Foundation there in Dominica. We will be working with sustainable agriculture, composting, and taking care of the Roseau River watershed. The students will start collecting water quality and streamflow data as well as begin undertaking projects in the communities that could directly improve streamflow and water quality. We are still working on full funding of the summer program, but Domlec, the electric utility, has agreed to be the lead sponsor! We are also bringing together Rotary groups from district 6910 (Conyers, GA area) and Dominica to put together a world community service project together. VERY EXCITING!!!
In Curacao, Reef Fest will occur the last week in August and we are working together with Lee's Reef Project and Kids for Coral to put this on.....Project AWARE and the Curacao Tourist Board are already sponsoring this teacher and community education festival! We are working with local businesses to increase sponsorship there!
We spent time last fall working on long grant proposals and our efforts are paying off!! We have been named finalists for two grants: a NOAA grant and a grant from national Fish and Wildlife Foundation for education and sustainable tourism research in Curacao.
Many of you have met our current intern, Robin Koch, who is an MBA student studying marketing. She has been an incredible asset to us this year and will be with us through July. We will have another intern this summer, Pam Bellotti, who is a marine biology student at Auburn. Sheila Carman, a former Peace Corps volunteer to Jamaica, is also volunteering with us and preparing the groundwork for a project in
Jamaica!
None of our work would be possible without the great community, regional, and international support we receive. Hundreds of kids and teachers around the Caribbean send their thanks!!
|
