World Oceans Day is celebrated around the world every June 8th, following the World Environment Day on 5th June. SynergY youth group in Dubai made a promise for the ocean by planting 50 trees at Green Mountain MRF supported by Dubai Municipality at the landfill area in Dubai on 7th June’2014. Nearly 1200 trees have been planted at various landfill and waste management sites in a short span in Dubai and 50 more added today. The Members also took interesting selfies near the Mamzar Beach to seal their pledge. These pictures showed the deep commitment this group has to raise awareness and get the community engaged in to support environment. The theme for World Oceans Day for 2014 is, “Together we have the power to protect the ocean!” and that of the World Environment Day was “Raise your voices and not the sea level”.
Simran Vedvyas, the founder of SynergY explained how each and every act of ours can help reduce the effects of global warming which is the biggest threat to humankind as- ‘We throw away over 1/3 of all food that is produced, wasting precious land and water resources that have gone into its production. Food waste in landfills is one of the biggest contributors of the harmful gases that cause global warming. Warmer temperatures are melting glaciers causing sea levels to rise, threatening small islands and low lying cities around the world. We pose everyone to take pledge and ‘reduce food waste’ because this is the only way to make a difference in lives of our future generation’
Mr. Sadin Ismail Al Falasi, Head of Treatment Systems Unit from Waste Management Department, Dubai Municipality and other officials were present at the event to support and encourage the children in their endeavors. He believes that what this group is doing for the community is remarkable and also complimented Simran for her recent achievements and on receiving the John Muir Award for Youth Environmental Conservation Award and the International 2014 Eco Hero Award by Action for Nature USA, recently.
“We ask everyone to help reduce the “FOODprint” by managing the meals smartly, storing food, using leftovers, buying imperfect vegetables and encouraging the supermarkets and restaurants to cut their food waste”, is the message disseminated by the members of this group.
The group celebrated the World Environment Day by visiting the exhibition “Your Planet Needs You” by Dubai Municipality at Children City that encourages a scientific look into the future of Dubai should we choose to take care of or ignore our environment. The visit to this exhibition gave a glimpse into Dubai 2050 as to how citizen of Dubai will survive global changes such as resource availability and the climate. The exhibition is an eye-opener into a scientifically designed future of our world, and is recommended for children, teens and families. The activities were CSR supported by Al Futtaim Carillion and Barakat Juices.
SynergY youth group has worked on grass-root level projects to raise awareness and fight against food waste which campaigns for reducing landfills. Making use of the Information and Communication Technology this youth group has innovatively used tools like videos, blogs, e-mails and shared the work on the social media to ‘reduce the food waste’. SynergY has raised awareness and environmental education through events, lectures, presentations about reducing waste that is filling the landfills and also planting trees and greening the landfill areas.
www.synergyouth.weebly.com
www.facebook.com/CosmoFoundationYouth
Author name: Simran Vedvyas
Speciality and expertise: Environment and Waste Management
Sector/Affiliation: SynergY youth
Adress: P. O.Box 30876 Dubai UAE
E-mail: simran.vedvyas@gmail.com
Mobile: 00971506526228
Type of contribution: Climate Action