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The World Wide Web of Life |
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By Dalia Acosta *
Havana, Cuba, and Turin, Italy, are the headquarters for World Environment Day celebrations this year. Cuba is wrapping up its preparations for the festivities, which include awareness campaigns running from one extreme of the island to the other.
HAVANA - With the slogan ''Connect yourself to the world wide web of life!'' ten people will travel the length of Cuba on bicycle, visiting more than 20 villages and cities, bearing the message of World Environment Day, celebrated June 5.
''They will cover some 1,616 km in 18 days, from Cabo de San Antonio to Punta de Maisí, from one end of the country to the other, conveying the message of peace with nature,'' Enrique Dalmau, speaking for the Environmental Policy office of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, told Tierramérica.
The bicycle tour is one of the variety of events being prepared in Cuba, which is serving as headquarters, alongside Italy, in the world day organized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
The Cuban capital and the northern Italian city of Turin (Torino) will be linked by satellite to share the main ceremonies, which in the case of the Caribbean island will take place in Havana's Convention Palace.
Also on June 5, officials are organizing the planting of 2001 trees in Lenin Park, known as Havana's lungs, followed by an open-air concert.
Some five million people around the country are to take part in a clean-up day convened by the Revolution Defense Committees, which claim more than seven million members on this island of 11 million people.
''We will take to the streets to pick up garbage, collect materials door-to-door, plant trees, fix up gardens, clean any beaches nearby and even rescue strays dogs,'' explained Julio Rodríguez, 22, a university student.
Last year, Rodríguez jumped into the Bay of Havana to collect garbage as part of an anti-pollution campaign.
The World Environment Day events have been organized by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, in conjunction with local governments, official national agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including religious groups.
The activities are planned for Saturday, June 2, to Thursday, June 7, and will include a community debate on sanitation and waste recycling, an exhibition of Cuban artists' renderings of the environment, and an exposition of works by US artists titled ''Toxic Landscapes.''
UNEP executive director Klaus Topfer will be taking part in the festivities and is to preside over the UN agency's presentation of Global 500 prizes to people and organizations that have made notable contributions to caring for and preserving the natural environment.
The Cuban NGO Cubasolar and the José Martí Pioneers Organization, which includes most of the island's primary school students, are among the groups to be recognized with the award this year.
* Dalia Acosta is an IPS correspondent
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