BCK launches its 2011-2012 Young Leaders programme

The Bishop’s College Kingstown Young Leaders are doing their bit to preserve the environment by embarking on a plant drive, and donating plants to several business houses.{{more}}

The young leaders officially launched their project for the 2011-2012, RBTT Young Leaders program under the theme “Environmental sustainability, preserving humanity”.

The group, consisting of 44 members, kick-started their programme at the school’s hardcourt on Friday, February 3.

Feature speaker at Friday’s launch, Engineer and environmental consultant Herbert Samuel said the increasing rate in which humanity has been consuming oil in the 20th century has upset the natural balance of carbon in the atmosphere.

“Today, the consumption of fossil fuels in our cars, homes and power plants to produce electricity is producing more carbon dioxide than the planet can absorb,” he noted.

According to Samuel, the excess carbon dioxide accumulating in the air is causing global warming. He explained that some of the disastrous effects of global warming include rising sea levels, permanent flooding of coastal and low-lying land areas in the Caribbean and elsewhere in the world.

He added that there will be increased acidification of the oceans which will have adverse effects on marine life, increased tropical storm and hurricane activity, increased incidents of droughts and adverse effects on agriculture production around the world.

“We see that there is an environmental challenge that is directly connected to our energy supply and to meet that challenge we need to find ways to shift our energy supply from an oil based energy supply to renewable energy such as, geothermal energy, wind energy and solar energy,” Samuel said.

Another problem Samuel mentioned is the rapid rate of development of technology, partly powered by cheap oil, which he said is leading to an equally rapid growth in our ability to consume resources.

Samuel said, today, almost everything created is so easy to achieve that persons casually buy things that were manufactured in China and when they break, they are thrown away.

Samuel said today’s vision for tomorrow has to be about change.

“It must be leading a change in the direction of environmental sustainability so that we can continue to achieve economic and social growth and at the same time, preserve the natural balance of our planet,” he stated.

The students were also given a “to do” list by Samuel on ways they could save energy and preserve the environment. Samuel advised the students to turn off the lights when leaving a room, use less water when washing dishes, and get into the habit of unplugging phone chargers when not in use.

Two students also performed a short skit, which underscored the importance of taking care of the earth.

Dawson Lewis, of Brydens and Partners, also implored the students to get into the habit of recycling and collecting water bottles and placing them into plastic bags.

The president of the group is Kellisha James and the coordinating teachers are Ronnie Richardson, Janelle Thomas, Melissa George and Shafique Sam.

The RBTT’s main theme this year is: Climate change: global phenomenon, community solutions.(KW)