With a theme of Go Wild For Life, the sun will makes it’s way around the globe this Sunday, and the countries of planet Earth will, in turn, celebrate World Environment Day.
This year’s theme will address the booming illegal trade in wildlife products which is eroding Earth’s precious biodiversity, robbing us of our natural heritage and driving whole species to the brink of extinction.
The killing and smuggling is also undermining economies and ecosystems, fuelling organised crime, and feeding corruption and insecurity across the globe.
Locally, there will be a World Environment Day Festival held from 10am-3pm at Knox Park in Murwillumbah. This event is an educational community fun day whose aim is to celebrate our wonderful environment and ask everyone to join the race to make the world a better place.
The day features live music from Gabriel and Cecilia, the Andrea Kirwin Band, Broadfoot, The Pitts Family Circus. There will be tasty food and environmental and sustainable business stalls. There will also be plenty of kids’ activities in the kids tent and workshop with Hoopla Circus EnviroQuest and prizes.
To get the planetary ball rolling, year 7 Sathya Sai High School students will be collecting old mobile phones as part of their Service to the Community and as a contribution to the festival.
Teacher Trista Vallentine says over 90 percent of the materials in a mobile phone could be recovered.
‘Recycling 50,000 handsets can replace the need to mine 110 tonnes of gold ore, 123 tonnes of silver bearing ore or 11 tonnes of copper sulphide ore,’ said Ms Vallentine.
‘Part of Mobile Muster’s promise is to ensure that every mobile received is dismantled and recycled and any data left on the handset is destroyed.’
If you can’t catch the students at the festival you may drop unwanted mobiles in the collection box at Sathya Sai School, 9 Nullum Street, Murwillumbah during school hours for the entire month of June.
WET WEATHER PLAN – There WIL be a last minute ‘call’ on the Caldera Environment Centre Facebook page if the event has to be postponed due to the weather.
For more information on WED visit the World Environment Day website.
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