The Rise of the Youngens

Before I started as a Young Champion, there weren't many young environmentalists around. I didn't like the idea that adults were the only ones who should be able to organize and host clean ups. And so I gathered up my friends and started getting them involved in many activities there are. We all liked the idea of being young and capable of doing such things, and our role as present leaders. Two years later here I am, sitting in an office and am really aware of my surrounding. Students from high schools here on Majuro are forming clubs, environmental clubs that is, and are facing the environmental issues we have here. I am proud to have been around to experience such feeling. and I thank all my families and friends for always adjusting to my craziness to the environment. Every teenager here in the Marshalls have proven to me that they are all Young Champions.

Underwater Adventures

Certified Diver!  To kick up a notch on my dedication to the ocean I went ahead and got trained as a basic open water diver. I had an excellent time with the Raycrew divers. They taught me everything I needed to learn underwater. It was a two day adventure and was well worth my time. On the first day we did basic underwater procedures such as masks and full gears taken off and putting back on underwater. And on the second day we ventured to the deeper parts of the lagoon; we found amazing healthy corals with diverse ecosystems, I couldn't be more blessed. After the diving trainings we were also required to take a written exam on all that was needed to know on basic underwater diving. Now, happily living as a basic underwater diver. :)

/s/ Broderick

World Oceans Day 2012

Three years in a row the Marshall Islands young environmentalists have been commited on celebrating world oceans day. This year we took a much more serious action and called in the whole island. The fresh youth organization Jo-Jikum took initiative and organized an all community event that includes trash pick up around the coast line and an underwater clean up just several yards away from the shoreline.

After a month of planning we rocked and rolled. 

And this is our conclusion

FOUR HUNDRED AND NINETEEN BAGS!!! after several hours of trash pick up. It was unbelievable but it was a FACT. after this clean up, we were motivated to plan more to show our islands the destruction they are causing without noticing. 

****To view more awesome photos of this day please simply click the link below :) ENJOY :) :

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151802964350234.857254.638050233&type=3

350.org Climate Change

On the month of May, a group of dedicated young Environmentalists joined together and attended a Climate Change workshop hosted by the 350 organization.

The 350.org is an organization created to focus on a world wide threat, Climate Change.   Aaron Packard and Linda Salvador members of the 350 organization came in to discuss and spread awareness on the organization and also to help us create and plan as young leaders an Eco-Friendly future for our islands.

Working as a team, we talked about how we could contribute to cutting down on our Carbon emissions by changing our lifestyles such as using more transportation that does not require fuel (bicycles) and using more solar and/or wind technology to power up our islands. They had also discussed methods of futuristic planning, Broadening our heads to realize what we are really putting us up for, and as young leaders we took the Challenge.

On our few days of critical thinking and collaborative heads, our conference was a success. 

While all of this was done, we then manage to join in on a movement called "Connecting the dots". Many other countries joined hands on this day to send out a message about our real problem Climate Change.

I've talked to many people about climate change, some knew about it, some did not but the people who did know about it said that they've seen it happen, and it is very much an unpleasant feeling for most of us who live on low laying islands only inches above the water.

Sunrise photo, 350 Marshall Islands Crew with Reverend starting our day with a prayer

Say NO to Plastic Bags

Young youth environmentalists in the Marshall Islands are standing their ground. For some time now we have noticed how every clean up activities we would end up with countless plastic bags being collected not even counting the ones that we are not able to collect underwater.

Many corals and turtles are effected by our harmful waste and our disturbing trend keeps going. that is why we are trying our best to promote the use of recycleable bags.

The Jo-Jikum (Environmental Organization) is trying to go legislative on plastic bags, as in putting a tax on it; I am for it. and once people get used to using the reuseable bags, that is one step closer for a cleaner safe environment. GO GREEN

Earth Hour 2012

What were you doing two weeks ago?  On March 30th around 8:30 PM the world joined hands in turning off all lights for an hour, The Earth Hour. This day has been celebrated around the world for numerous years for the sake of our Mother Nature.The Marshall Islands was one of the proud providers for this day. Many nature lovers turned off their lights for an hour on this day, I along with my extended family members were part of this movement as well. as soon as the clock hit 8:30 PM we all turned off all our lights and chit chatted in the dark. felt great doing something for our Mother Nature. GO GREEN!

Micronesian Youth Services Network 2012

During the month of March 2012, I was asked to attend the annual meeting of the Micronesia Youth Services Network and it was hosted in Palau. MYSN is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that focus' on our island's problems and different ways of solving them. Our motto for this year's conference was 'Carve it for a healthier lifestyle'. The main goal of the conference was to focus on ways our Micronesian community can reach out to our people in reducing the numbers of Non-communicable diseases. I had the opportunity to talk about where the Marshall Islands is at within the healthy lifestyle range. I also had the opportunity to talk about the Micronesia Challenge and the Programs that I work with which are the Jo-Jikum Environmental Organization and the Young Champions internship program. After the conference we were given the opportunity to go out and look around the Beautiful Rock Islands.

Crown of Thorn Hunt in the Marshalls

The crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) are large starfishes that feed on corals. Having corals being the main structure of our islands, I along with several College of the Marshall Island students, the Jo-Jikum organization, and a member of the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority’s (MIMRA) staff set out for a quest to hunt crown of thorns. These are nocturnal creatures and the only time they would come out is when the sun is completely out of the way, in other words at night. We started gearing up while the sun was reaching its setting point and began our hunt, swam for nearly an hour and a half and found nothing and when the sun was completely out of the way, we spotted one. Fifteen minutes later we spotted another one.  We rested our case with two crown of thorns but with the idea of many more hunts to come. Having these starfishes being a threat to our corals, I am trying my best to recruit and get more hunts scheduled for the future and as a young champion "being the next wave for change" has definately been emphasized as part of my work.

/s/ Broderick