14 DAY TRIAL // US's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just announced that it is planning to award a $50,000 (approximately €41,000) grant to the USVI Community Organization Beyond Visions, Inc.
This money is to go in environmental education projects, aimed at teaching the people living in the US Virgin Islands about the importance of marine preservation.
The official announcement for this new environmental campaign was made by EPA's Regional Administrator, Judith E. Enck, who explained how “EPA is proud to provide $50,000 to Beyond Visions, Inc. to support the education projects about the importance of marine environment that local community organizations will conduct in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
This is not the first time when EPA agrees to fund such educational programs: since 1992 until now, nearly $55 million (about €45 million) were spent for similar purposes.
Beyond Visions is expected to develop and implement programs whose end goal is that of increasing environmental awareness, meaning that local people will be invited to take part in workshops that teach them about how each and every one of their actions eventually impacts on the natural world.
It is expected that future marine conservation and preservation projects will be much more successful if the residents of the US Virgin Islands also decide to get involved and lend a helping hand to safeguarding our natural world.
As part of this green-oriented training, the people will be asked to help clean up local beaches, promote shopping bags made out of recycled materials and actively study the turtle population in the nearby waters by monitoring their nests.
EPA's official website also informs us that conservationists and environmentalists with proper training are to work close together with the local communities in the Virgin Islands, so as to ensure the maximum efficiency of this project.
From where we stand, this endeavor is more than welcomed, especially given the fact that humans are both the main drive behind the degradation of our marine ecosystems, and the ones who can actually make a difference in terms of environmental protection.