QF holds Earth Day festivities at Katara Friday, 22 April 2011 03:32

DOHA: Inspiring the students in Qatar to take small steps to make transformation through environment conservation, Qatar yesterday marked Earth Day 2011.

Qatar Foundation International (QFI) organised Earth Day festivities at Katara in partnership with Qatar Cool and the Earth Day Network under the theme ‘Conserve, Connect, Act’.

“Global warming, destruction of the world’s fisheries, extinction of thousands of species, pollution are just a few of the pressing problems that confront us on Earth Day 2011,” said Maggie Mitchell Salem, Executive Director of QFI.

“Students gathered here should seize on these issues and, take action as per the Earth Day Doha 2011 theme — Conserve, Connect, Act. Students should think about transforming the world — small steps, and big ones-understanding that all of us, each and every one can impact, for better and worse, the world around us,” she said.

The programmes at Katara, featured prominent speakers, discussions and workshops emphasising the global nature of climate change and the need to work together, across cultures, to develop solutions to environmental problems. Also 12 students from Qatar and the US connected with students in India and Morocco using Cisco’s Telepresence technology to talk about water-related issues making a huge impact everywhere.

Considered the largest civic event, Earth Day is a global initiative which started in 1970 encouraging activities and events designed to broaden support for environmental programmes, rekindle public commitment, and build global community activism. More than a billion people participate in Earth Day campaigns every year

“We all have a duty to protect the environment. If you start young, you have the potential for even greater environmental savings in the future,” said Fayad Al Khatib, CEO of Qatar Cool.

“As Qatar and the world are developing, so is our reliance on modern solutions to enhance our living and working environment. We are here to make sure that these solutions do not come at a cost to our environment. At Qatar Cool we see Earth Day as an important global initiative. It is a positive step toward showing the youth of our country, and around the world, how they can play their part in protecting the environment.”

A wide range of local and international QFI partners as Ocean for Life, Green Gulf, Qatar Cool, Earth Day Network, Cisco, Ocean Future’s Society, and Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute conducted environmental workshops.

The workshop on Environment Protection saw students discuss the global impact of greenhouse gases and climate change. They mulled ways to increase awareness on these issues and how community members can change behaviour to conserve the environment.

Meanwhile, workshops were held on GreenGulf focussing on solar energy, power generation, technology and its role in the FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Qatar in 2022. The workshops were educational and the students had to report back what they learnt to the wider group.

As part of civic responsibility, American and Qatari students participated in a beach cleanup activity at Sealine, yesterday. Also a Film Festival and Awards Night was organised at Education City, showing films themed on the environment and climate change.

Visiting students, teachers and organisational directors of QFI Global Schools Network from Honolulu, Seattle, Chicago and Boston attended the event. Local schools that participated included Omar bin Khattab School, Qatari Independent Secondary School for Girls, Yarmouk Independent Preparatory School for Boys, Doha Independent Secondary School for Boys, Raba’a Adawiya Secondary School for Girls, Al Iman Secondary School for Girls, Al Wakra Independent Secondary School for Boys and Al Wakra Independent Preparatory School for Girls. The Peninsula

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