Young

When we all get old and retire, who will take our places? That's right, the kids. Whether we like it or not, to ensure a better future we have to pay attention to the little ones. The Eco-Club in Puerto Hondo believes in the power that children have to take action and help protect wildlife through awareness. The Pro-Bosque Foundation, which I am working with,greatly contributes to the Ecology Blub of the Puerto Hondo community. They are constantly looking for new ways to teach children about environmental issues, and the things that they can do to help. Pro-Bosque has noticed that investing in the eco-club does more than simply teach children about the environment. :

“With the increased investment in the children of the eco club comes increased curiosity by their parents.” – Tania Rios, Pro Bosque supervisor.

Laura, Paula and Josephina and I

The children learn about recycling, composting and energy efficiency, and then go back home and teach it to mom and dad. Before, Pro-Bosque use to hold eco-club events only for the children of the Puerto Hondo community. However, with increased demand, they now make events for adults as well. I was fortunate enough to contribute to their most recent event from the planning to the execution.

The event was el Festival de las Aves (the festival of birds). As soon as you enter Cerro Blanco, your ears are instantly serenated with an orchestra of bird songs. You don't waste any time if you’re looking for birds, it has more than 200 species of birds. Why? The area is in the heart of a transition zone of dry tropical forest, to humid forests and mangroves (all just 30 minutes away from each other). The majority of the tourists that visit Cerro Blanco, are bird watchers, however most of them come from other countries. This year, the goal of the festival was to promote bird appreciation locally. "Appreciate what's in your own backyard" Was the slogan of the campaign we ran in the universities.

To help advertize the event, we spent a week going from school to school and inviting students, teachers and their parents over individually. Since I was in charge of the marketing and planning activities for the children, I went to the elementary schools in Puerto Hondo. And to my surprise, at the very first presentation I made for the event, there happened to be a school reunion. (Just my luck)

The school reuniting in the playground

The principle of the school introducing me 

Class pictures

Taking a photo with the first group of kids

The adults that attend received a series of workshops where they learned interesting facts about birds, bird watching techniques, species identification and much more. They also got to go on a guided hikes and experience the avian migration from that are returning to the south from other countries. We were lucky enough to see many of the birds that we learned about during the workshops.

Red-Masked Parrakeet

Speckle-Breasted Wren

Ochre-Bellied Dove

And much much more.

There were many prizes for the kids making it a great incentive to actively participate. Some of the children’s activities included the following:

I did my famous bird game with them, they liked it so much that we played it 4 times in a row. The kids were also taught to express what they believe in through art. The message of the day was "Birds are our friends" And there was a contest about who can make the most powerful poster. Before we began, the shared some of their ideas as a group "It should have lots of colours, and nature, and birds, and the message should be right on it" Then, they separated into smaller groups and go to work.

We also went to the park, had several different contests such as colouring contests, painting contests, arts and Crafts. . . .

Some of the art work created:

"The birds are our friends" Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

I had lots of fun and learned a lot about bird watching. The entire event was a great success. It received triple the amount of participants than last year, and hopefully the growth in numbers will continue. I've said it once, I've said it twice, and I will say it once more, I've always loved kids. And the Eco-Club of Puerto Hondo is a great example of them having a positive influence on adults. Kids are always told they're too young to do so many things. Advocating for what they believe in should not be one of those things. Environmental problems that exist today may have been caused by many years of inefficiency, however it's our job to fix it. Getting the children involved through education is a great way to make changes in this world. They may be baby steps, but they're steps nonetheless.

:"I am only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realize, neither do you. You don't know how to fix the holes in the ozone layer. You don't know how to bring the salmon back up a dead stream. You don't know how to bring back an animal that is now extinct. And you can't bring back a forest where there is now a desert. If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it. . . " - Severn Cullis-Suzuki age 12, Earth summit Rio Janeiro, June 1992

Learning about Severn Suzuki inspired me. As young she started an ECO club (environmental children's organization) with 10 other 12 year olds, the club still managed to fundraise enough money by herself so that she could go to Rio to the Earth summit. They prepared an essay/speech together, and that's where the quote above comes from. Their parents did a fantastic job by showing them that there are no limits to what they could achieve, and that they should stand up for what she believes in. It all began with a little ECO club she held in her backyard with a couple of friends. Teaching children about the strength and power they have to make a difference, is the first step. I strongly believe that getting the children involved through education is a great way to make changes in this world.