An Eco-Warriors Clean-up

BY RAJNI GUPTA – JUMEIRAH PRIMARY SCHOOL PHOTOGRAPHY ALLY LANDES

The JPS Eco-Warriors are a team of children aged between 8 to 11 at Jumeirah Primary School who work across school creating positive change to help the environment. Switching off lights before playtime, collecting books to donate to schools in Africa (giving the books new life), and collecting plastic bottles and paper to send for recycling are just a few of the initiatives driven by the team.

This passionate team of students work proactively together, taking steps to enhance global awareness, which is why the JPS EcoWarrior team – led by Deanna Richardson and with the support of EDA – organised an after-school beach clean-up on Thursday 11th November 2021 on Sunset Beach.

With our planet almost 70% under water, the younger generation realises the severity of losing access to clean beaches and the effect it will have on their well-being, as well as the generations to come. They also have overwhelming concerns about the effects it will have on the marine life.

The entire day was dedicated to earth conservation: in the morning, the children watched the documentary ‘The Story of Plastic’, which they raised valid questions about how recycling is NOT the solution and discussed the devastating effects of improperly segregated waste; single-use plastic; the release of toxins during the process of recycling on our environment, and how toxins know NO boundaries. They are not limited to a particular nation hence waste management being a global issue.

An enthusiastic team of forty students, who now look to educate forty families, led the mission to educate ten new individuals, who will in turn multiply their reach outwards to ten new individuals, sharing missions such as, ‘Say No to Single-Use Plastic’ and ‘WasteFree Wednesday’, suggesting if not a ban on plastic, then at least a choice of wisely reusable materials at a consumer level.

In the afternoon, the expanding team (along with their parents) gathered to split into smaller groups and cover various areas of Sunset Beach to collect waste using reusable bags and reusable protective gloves provided by the EDA team. To encourage the children, their principal, Mrs Higgins, came along with the children to pick up the trash with her own kids; rearticulating the importance of working together for a better future.

A total of fifteen teams spent 120 minutes on the beach with the support of friends and family, each team consisting of approximately five members, both children and adults. A total item count of 1,588 was collected by sixty people in total.

This is just the beginning: the JPS Eco-Warriors are determined to make a difference.