Sascha Wil­son

Se­nior Re­porter

sascha.wil­son@guardian.co.tt

Scouts from eight groups across the South Cen­tral Scout Dis­trict marched through San Fer­nan­do re­cent­ly, car­ry­ing a mes­sage of en­vi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship, urg­ing cit­i­zens to help safe­guard the plan­et for fu­ture gen­er­a­tions.

Proud­ly dis­play­ing plac­ards as they marched to the beats of 1st Notre Dame Sea Scout and 3rd Trinidad Sea Scout Groups com­bined and 3rd AS­JA Col­lege Sea Scout bands, the young scouts shared mes­sages of pro­mot­ing en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion and en­cour­ag­ing the pub­lic to play a role in safe­guard­ing the plan­et for fu­ture gen­er­a­tions.

Dis­trict Com­mis­sion­er Cur­tis Din­di­al said seedlings were dis­trib­uted to mem­bers of the pub­lic along the route, and par­tic­i­pants al­so took part in a tree-plant­i­ng ex­er­cise. He said en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion re­mains a pri­or­i­ty for the move­ment.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia, act­ing Na­tion­al Scout Com­mis­sion­er Kr­is­han Puni­lal said the signs of en­vi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion can no longer be ig­nored and called on the pub­lic to take ac­tion.

“As we con­tin­ue to show­case the ad­vo­ca­cy of our young peo­ple, we are call­ing on every­one—the pub­lic, pri­vate and cor­po­rate sec­tors—to sup­port these ini­tia­tives. Look at ways your com­pa­nies, groups and even house­holds can re­duce plas­tic waste, lessen their en­vi­ron­men­tal im­pact and help pro­tect the Earth for the gen­er­a­tions to come,” he said.

Com­mend­ing the South Cen­tral Scout Dis­trict for its ini­tia­tive, Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath told par­tic­i­pants they were do­ing their part to help save the plan­et.

Dowlath said, “I am so hap­py to see so many young peo­ple here who un­der­stand that when you stand up for the en­vi­ron­ment, you stand up for the fu­ture of this coun­try and the world. When you plant a tree, you are re­duc­ing our car­bon foot­print and help­ing to cre­ate a health­i­er fu­ture for Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

Prais­ing the Scout Move­ment and its lead­ers for their com­mit­ment and ser­vice, the min­is­ter said, “You are cre­at­ing cit­i­zens of this coun­try who will stand up not just for the fu­ture, but for what is right.”

The march kicked off from the band­stand on Har­ris Prom­e­nade, pro­ceed­ing along High Street, Mu­cu­rapo Street, Sut­ton Street and La­dy Hailes Av­enue, cul­mi­nat­ing at the dis­trict’s head­quar­ters in Em­ba­cadere.