ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
The environmental day event in Central Square in Lynn had a windy start that blew over tents and this paper elephant being picked up by Jose Alvarez. Activities included education on recycling and illegal wildlife trade.
BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
LYNN — Environmental activists descended on Central Square Thursday to advocate for the planet’s protection.
Advocates from the local chapter of Global Embassy of Activists for Peace, the international, non-profit organization that promotes worldwide peace, set up tables in the downtown providing information about recycling, according to Dulce Gonzalez, project coordinator.
“A common misconception is that all cardboard can be recycled,” Gonzalez said. “If it’s contaminated with food, it can’t be recycled.”
People are often surprised to hear that glass should not be recycled, she said.
The group distributed reusable shopping bags to raise awareness and reduce the three trillion bags that are used once and tossed annually. Each bag takes at least 20 years to decompose.
Gonzalez said she hopes reusable bags are required in the city.
“We’re hopeful, but right now we’re just trying to educate the public,” she said.
This year’s Environment Day also focused on wildlife protection.
“The monarch butterfly is becoming endangered,” Gonzalez said. “The Obama administration recently put out an alert for monarch butterflies. Something like 970 million butterflies have been disappearing since 1996. That’s a huge number for just the past two decades.”
Joselyne Reynoso, an activist, said it’s important to tell people about how the earth deserves to be treated.
“Mother earth provides for us,” Reynoso said. “We should treat our earth as a human, and treat it with love and respect.”
Participants could sign a petition given by William Soto, executive president of the organization, that focuses on the protection and recognition of the rights of earth as a living being, and argues that ecocide, the destruction of the natural environment, should be recognized as an international crime.
The group will travel to Central Falls, Rhode Island today to repeat their message to more than 400 students, said Juan Gonzalez, regional coordinator for New England.
“This is about how important it is to recycle and reuse,” he said. “We are bringing this message and a message on the protection of wildlife to citizens of Lynn because, just like we take care of our mother, that is how we should take care of our mother Earth.”
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte
