First Climate Compliance Conference - GAIA Newsletter

CLIMATE COMPLIANCE CONFERENCE AT RICHMOND VALE ACADEMY

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GAIA NEWSLETTER V O L U M E

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Community development Richmond Vale Academy (RVA) St. Vincent climate compliant Teaching in the schools of St. Vincent Community garden in Chateau Environment Day in the community

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Community garden

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Making compost

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Mandala garden

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Overview

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Inside Story

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Inside Story

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Inside Story

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GAIA in the Community The Climate Compliance Conference (or Gaia program) is a 10 year program with the aim of making the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines climate compliant and help bring awareness to the people of how to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

The group of volunteers for this program is known as the GAIA team and every six months for the next ten years new groups of volunteers will arrive to make their contribution to this program.

The most important and necessary part of this program is to be active and helpful in the communities. Seeing as how this is the first GAIA team a lot of our actions in the com-

munities are merely laying the foundation for the future teams to continue with while also adding in their new ideas for community actions.

Caption describing picture or graphic.

The first GAIA team has already undertaken several tasks in an attempt to help and bring awareness to sev-

eral villages across St. Vincent.

The GAIA team has already started to build an organic community garden in Chateaubelair as well as starting a weekly environment club for the children in Fitz Hughes and Chateaubelair where they learn about climate change and recycling among other things. The GAIA team has also begun an exercise club in Coulls Hill and also assisted in a cleanup of the Rose Hall River.

Over the next 10 years the GAIA team will be heavily involved in these communities and more as we continue to expand the program

Climate Compliance Conference (CCC) Change, food sustainability and security and how to live with other people coming from different culture.

As a local I am very happy to see that persons leave their home land and come here to St. Vincent and the Grenadines to make it climate compliant. Looking back over the past months I see what we have accomplished in this short space of time. I’m

happy that this program is for 10 years.

In the future I can see us as Vincentian starting to take care of our environment and eating healthy having our own back yard garden, growing organic food, using our own biogas, solar panels and turbin energy. All this I see we can achieve over the next ten years.

Selly Patterson (one of the teachers of the CCC

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Starting the Community Garden

Community garden in Chateaubelair

“When individuals and communities do not govern self, they risk being ruled by external forces that care less about the well -being of the village.”

The GAIA team has undertaken a project to create a community garden in Chateaubelair.

The hope it that people in the community get involved to help maintain the garden and when it comes time to harvest, everyone will

we can make and keep the compost at the garden site.

There is a still lot of work to be done but we have already started to plant vegetables in the community garden.

We also use this area to host our environment club for the children.

The garden is located opposite of Bass Café.

Making Your Own Compost You can make your own compost which you can use in a vegetable garden and at the same time reduce your garbage quantity.

I’m going to teach you how you can reuse your leftovers to make compost in five easy steps.

Plants grow much better if you use compost

Step #1: You need a small space to make a compost pile.

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be able to help themselves to organic fruits and vegetables.

We decided to make a Mandala garden to best utilize the space that we have. We have also created a spiral herb garden to further increase the variety of plants in the garden.

We have also put in areas for two compost piles so that eventually

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Step #2: Everyday you can take kitchen scraps such as egg shells, old bread, all types of vegetable, fruit scraps and coffee filters. You can also collect leaves, old flowers, sawdust, wood chips.

Step #3: In place that you choose to make composter you need to put branches of trees in the bottom because it's easier way to get air when the composter start to filling up.

After you can start putting all kinds of kitchen scraps in the composter.

Step #4: You can also put manure from different animals such as horses, cows, donkeys, sheep, chickens.

Step #5: When the composter is full you should mix the compost and put a plastic cover on top of it. You have to wait 2-3 months before you can start using the compost in your vegetable garden.

Why Mandala Garden Shape?

Mandala is a Sanskrit word which means sacred or magic circle.

Mankind has always used mandalas. The Mayan calendar, the circles of American medicine, Celtic spirals and the Wheel of life are all Tibetan mandalas.

There are lots of benefits to making a Mandala garden.

Some of the advantages are the optimization of small spaces, several mi-

Environment Day For Environment Day, 05th June, the climate compliance conference team prepared environmental games for kids from Chateaubelair and Fitz Hughes. First game was separating garbage collection. So now they know how to separate plastic, paper, and aluminium for future garbage collection system of St. Vincent. Another game was environmental quiz game which

Beginning How have we started the Climate Compliance Conference?

Last year just after Christmas we went to communities with the event “Lets talk Green�. We went to Rosebank, Rosehall, Fitz hudges and Chateaubelair, Coulls Hill, Petit Bordel with the program: presentation about global warming and climate

includes the contents of global warming, climate change, endangered animals and plants. Besides, we had other games like mimic animals and treasure hunting. We had fun and instructive time together with kids in environment day.

Beach clean up

Did you think what we can do for our Planet? Gaia kids club came together change, quiz, drumming and singing, poetry and a movie. It was really exciting to go and meet people, to talk with them and find out how much they are concerned about changing climate and their island. We realized that there is need for more education about global warming and climate change and more motivation for people is needed as well. In March the first Climate Compliance Conference team started their 6

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croclimate in the same plot as a consequence of the formats of one single circular bed.

Some areas are more shaded and other sunniest, which facilitates different types of plants. It also facilitates the control of pests and diseases: promotes diversity therefore combines herbs, vegetables, flowers; medicinal, condiments, processes allelopathy and biological control are facilitated. The amount of moisture is also increased .

for cleaning our beach. We walked along the beach and picked a lot of trashes.

They learned how to tell natural material like branches and artificial material like plastic. After cleaning beach, we sat and sang together in the clear beach. This activity reminds us what we should do for our planet, the Earth. We will continue activities with Gaia kids club for our planet and community. months period in St. Vincent. The Climate Compliance Conference is not traditional conference where people meet, sit and talk. It is a conference of 10 years, it is an active event with lots of practical work and the main goal is food, energy, disaster security of this island.

Vaida from Lithuania teacher of the first Gaia team in RVA

Richmond Vale Academy runs Gaia Kids Club for future environment leaders of St. Vincent in Chateaubelair

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RICHMOND VALE ACADEMY Richmond Vale Academy (RVA) is a registered Non Profit No. 157 of 2002 under the Companies Act in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Since 2007, more than 250 international and national students have studied at the Academy.

Chateaubelair Post Office

"Becoming climate compliant demands getting the head out of the sand pile. How to make that happen, how to get that head out from the sand pile? We better listen because here and now comes the next generation marching." - The Climate Compliance Conference We would like to say THANK YOU to:

St. Vincent Call us at: +1 784 492 4058

COREAS FOOD MART in

Email us at: stina@richmondvale.org

Kingstown, St.Vincent

Like us on facebook Richmond Vale

For generous donation for this Newsletter the First Newsletter of the

www.richmondvale.org

Climate Compliance Conference

The First Gaia/Climate Compliance Conference Team Name: Suelbee Lee Country: South Korea What she learned about: She learned how to live with people that wasn’t her family and that she really enjoys working with the community.

Most memorable moment: Culture night in Coulls Hill and working with children to start the community garden.

Personal statement: I can’t believe we have to say goodbye. I will always remember you. To the next GAIA team good luck.

Name: Julie Kim Country: South Korea What she learned about: Working with children, how to make seedlings and English.

Most memorable moment: Environment Day because we played environment themed games with the children.

Person Statement: Please remember that the Earth is not

only for us. Let’s take care of the planet for the next generation.

shared good and bad moments.

I love you all!

Name: Gabriela Pasquali

Name: Gustavo Noles

Country: Brasil

Country: Venezuela

What she learned about: Organic agriculture, farming, how to work with the community and myself.

What he learned about: English, organic gardening and farming.

Most memorable moment: Living close to nature, living sustainably and working with the community.

Personal statement: We’re learning and teaching each other all the time. We’ve

Most memorable moment: Meeting new people and living with people from all over the world.

Personal statement: Thank you for everything. I hope we meet again.

Name: Daniel Rosario Country: Canada What he learned about: Organic farming, making compost and how to use a cutlers.

Most memorable moment: Meeting new people and working with the community.

Personal statement: This was a once in a lifetime experience and hopefully the next team will have as a team as I did.