Photo By Cpl. Mark Watola | Patrick Oneal, right, conservation law enforcement officer with the base environmental...... read more read more
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Marine Corps Air Station New River and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune teamed up last week on an initiative to celebrate Earth Day through education and conservation.
Volunteers, both military and civilian, participated in events such as the Splash for Trash and cleanups at the marinas and Onslow beach, with efforts concentrated on removing trash.
“It’s our base,” said Sgt. Alexander Eannottie, an aircraft rescue and fire fighting Marine with Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron on New River. “It’s our home and if nobody ever did this just imagine what it would look like.”
Camp Lejeune kicked off its Earth Day initiative April 19with the Onslow Beach cleanup, where 45 volunteers helped pick up litter along the coast.
“In honor of Earth Day we are out here on the training areas of the beach cleaning areas not accessible to the public,” said Alicia Filzen, environmental system manager and qualified recycling manager. “A lot of the debris from the public areas washes up on the training area.”
In order to teach future generations about Earth Day, an Earth Day Expo was held at Johnson Primary School on Camp Lejeune April 21.
The annual expos theme for this year was “a sustainable future begins with you.”
“The Earth Day Expo features interactive displays and educational materials on the environment,” said Filzen. “The demonstrations encourage the students to ask questions and learn about what they can do to protect the environment.”
On April 22, service members gathered at the Camp Lejeune Gottschalk Marina to spend a day on the water in canoes picking up trash along the banks of the river.
“This was the fourth year we’ve done Splash for Trash, because we get a lot of participation from Marines and they pick up a lot of trash,” said Pat Raper, head of the environmental compliance branch with the Environmental Management Division.
Both Camp Lejeune and New River accomplished their goal of restoring their environment and recognizing the significance of Earth Day.
“Earth Day has been bringing people together for conservation and environmental protection efforts every year since April 22, 1970,” said Filzen. “Some of the ways that a person or a community can observe Earth Day is by planting trees, picking up roadside trash, conducting various programs for recycling and conservation, using recyclable containers for snacks and lunches and conserving energy.”
| Date Taken: | 04.22.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 04.26.2016 15:28 |
| Story ID: | 196567 |
| Location: | NC, US |
| Web Views: | 33 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Lejeune, New River celebrate Earth Day April 19-22, by Cpl Mark Watola, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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