An agent of Change: for a Better Yo Creek

By: Andrea Carillo,  9 years old

The following is a submission of one of our applicants to this year’s Chaa Creek Eco Kids Summer Camp.

Officially known as the Children’s Summer Camp Scholarship Program, the annual event gives 24 young Belizeans between the ages of 8 and 13 a chance to learn about their natural world through a mix of adventure, social interaction, fun and hands-on education aimed at instilling a sense of wonder and responsibility for the environment.

The Eco Kids are selected after submitting a 300 word written essay which is reviewed and shortlisted by the Chaa Creek scholarship committee with the winners going on to attend the summer camp.

Chaa Creek will be providing all lodging, three healthy meals and snacks each day, structured educational activities, arts and craft materials, tee shirts, 24-hour camp counselor supervision, and guided tours conducted by licensed naturalist guides.

Good luck potential Eco Kids!

An agent of Change: for a Better Yo Creek

Eco Kids Summer Camp 2013

When I heard the term EcoKid the first thing that came to my mind was how my ideas can be helpful to my school and my beautiful Yo Creek. I looked around and saw that garbage is a great problem in my environment. I believe that garbage should be a great concern to everyone and this starts at school. I can see that the amount of garbage produced at school is a lot. This is because the school sells sweets, chips, ideals, juices in plastic bottles etc. . I think that the teachers should put a rule where little of these things should be sold at school. Instead, they should sell fruits which are more nutritious for us growing children at school. I believe also that parents should come up with ways to make sweets with fruits and also use the rind of fruits can be used to preserve fruit sweets even though it takes a long process to be made but in that way we would be having less garbage. Also, shakes and juices can also be made and sold to kids instead of artificial flavored juices which come in disposable plastic bottles. Also, the rind of fruits if not used as a preservative, can be used as a fertilizer for plants to grow bigger.

Water is also very important to everyone. Water is needed for us to live without it we all will die. We all need water to drink, to wash dishes, to wash clothes, to cook and to bathe. So as an Ecokid I will help conserve water since it is very valuable.  I have observed that a lot of Belizeans like to buy and eat Chinese foods like: chowmein, chop suey, fried rice and soups. Usually when these foods are cooked a lot of water is used for the boiling of vegetables and water is wasted in this way. I have seen my mother using other methods to cook these same foods and not wasting so much water as others do. As an ecokid I will share the method my mom uses to cook and not wasting the valuable water.  My mother is a Tupperware agent and she has special Tupperware which uses little amount of water that allows the vegetables to cook with only the vapor and no water is thrown away and the nutrients remain on the vegetables. Also she has special containers where pastas can be cooked with little water in the container. I forgot to mention that these containers also help conserve electrical energy.  For instance, my mother uses a product called the “QUICK CHEF” which blends, mixes and process food just like any expensive appliances which uses electricity and this one does not.

So conservation of electricity is my other mission as an ecokid. I want to make an impact in my school and community by keeping it clean from garbage, preserve water and conserve electrical energy with the help of my ecofamily.

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