Thinking of a Summer job? Apply to be an EcoZone Summer Camp Counselor! Email the attachment to aricamhill@yahoo.com

Counselor App Form

By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13605113

Here is some more information about the International Collage Competition being implemented by UNEP-CEP

Collage Competition Flyer

Competition Criteria and Information

FAQ

Collage Competition Registration Form

Environment Cadet Application Form

Click on the attachment for Environment Cadet Application Forms

Grafting

Grafting is the method of transferring a branch of one plant to another plant and connecting them together in such a manner that they will unite and subsequently grow and develop as one plant.

Cleft Grafting

This method of grafting is adopted to the situation that the stock is several times thicker than the scion. One stock may be used for one to four scions but mostly one to two scions are used. If one scion is used, the split is made down the radius, if two scions are connected, the split is made for a distance of 2 to 3cm down the centre of the stock to be grafted.

Some Purposes for Grafting:

• To obtain the benefits of certain root stocks and scions
• To bear flowers and fruits earlier to increase yields and quality
• To increase ornamental value of the plant
• To regulate the growth of the fruit trees.
• To propagate plants that do not grow from seeds
• To assist the adaptation of foreign plants to existing conditions
• To assist plants with withstanding certain diseases

How to do a Cleft Graft?

1. Select and prepare your budstick. From the ends of branches on an excellent mother tree, choose budsticks that are not yet sprouting but with fat buds. Cut them about 15cm long. Remove all the leaves carefully. The cut budstick should be the same thickness as the rootstock stem.

2. With a very sharp knife cut the bottom of the budstick with two sloping cuts 3 ½ cm long (A).

3. Cut off the top of the rootstock about 30cm above the soil. Make one straight cut about 3cm deep in the top of the rootstock (B).

4. Push the budstick firmly into the rootstock cut. Leave ½ cm of the cut budstick outside the rootstock as shown.

5. Use clear plastic tape (or cut up plastic bags) to wrap firmly around the graft. Do not remove the tape until the budstick begins to grow – showing the graft has been successful. Remove any buds which grow below the graft.

Things that you’ll need:  Mango Scion wood cutting

Mango Sapling from root stock

Sharp Grafting Knife

Grafting tape

EcoZone Summer Camp 2011 is just around the corner! EcoZone Summer Camp will run from the 4th to 29th July. This year’s activities include Home Economics, Drama and Singing, Arts and Craft, Gardening, and a lot of field trips. Some of the field trips that campers will go on include bird watching, beach picnics, Antigua Rainforest Canopy Tour, and so on.

The camp is geared towards ages 5-11. Activities begin at 7:30 daily and end at 4:30 p.m. The venue is still to be determined.

This year some of our proud sponsors are:

- the Sustainable Island Resource Management Mechanism (SIRMM)

- Harney Motors and Local Oil Ltd

- West Indies Oil Company (WIOC)

For more information about the camp see the attached brochure!

Registration closes on June 17th.

EcoZone Summer Camp brochure

ecozone registration form

Click on the links below and listen to the jingles by the schools that won the first ever Environmental Cadet Biodiversity Jingle Competition!

Sunnyside Tutorial Sunnyside

Pares Primary School Pares

Five Islands Primary Five Islands

Seventeen schools, both Primary and Secondary, competed in the first ever Environment Cadet Biodiversity Jingle Competition. The competition was organised by the Environment Division in order to make children more aware of the issues relating to biodiversity and how it can be preserved.

The Environment Cadets created songs that spoke about specific flora and fauna in Antigua and Barbuda and discussed the growing concern of littering and pollution in the twin-island state.

The winners for the competition were Sunnyside Tutorial, Pares Primary and Five Islands Primary. The top Secondary school prize was won by the Antigua Girls’ High School, while Sunnyside Tutorial won the top Primary school prize. Both schools were presented with a fruit basket by Mrs. Andrea Marshall, Environment, Health and Safety Manager of Sandals Grande Antigua Resort and Spa.

The winning schools will have the opportunity to visit Pelican Lodge Studios where they will record their jingles professionally, and were presented with invitations to the studio by Vaughn Skerritt, a representative from Pelican Lodge Studios. The jingles will be aired on national radio stations on 22 May, the International Day of Biological Diversity. The three winning schools also received the SIRMM Biodiversity Award.

“I was extremely impressed with the courage of many of the performers as well as the huge effort they put into their performances. It was great to see school kids putting in so much time and energy for a good cause, such as the one for raising awareness on the importance of Antigua and Barbuda’s biodiversity” stated Frances Fuller, Environment Officer within the Environment Division.

The cadets were treated to a performance by Tian Winter with his hit song “Baby I”. Winter was one of the judges for the competition. Also on the judging panel were Quincy Etinoff, organist and choirmaster of the Ebenezer Moravian Church, and Vinema Jarvis, Director of Sanctuary.

The Environment Division wishes to thank all those who participated in the competition and looks forward to hosting similar competitions in the future.

Teachers at Cades Bay

On Friday 22nd January forty-five (45) Environment Cadet teachers from across Antigua and Barbuda took part in a workshop designed to teach them about Biodiversity. The workshop was planned by Environment Education Officer, Arica Hill.

Hill stated “Today was the start of an important part of the Environment Cadet Programme. The cadet programme for the year involves discussions and field trips on biodiversity and ecosystems. However, many of the teachers that administer the programme are not science teachers, and often know very little about specific environmental issues. So, the Environment Division took this opportunity to train the teachers. We cannot expect them to teach without giving them the necessary tools, so today was a very important step in that direction.”

The first part of the workshop was held at the Heritage Hotel where Project Coordinator of the Sustainable Island Resource Management Mechanism (SIRMM), Ruleta Camacho, gave a presentation on biodiversity.

“SIRMM is pleased to be a part of this endeavour to sensitise teachers about important environment issues. We intend to continue to work with the Environment Cadet programme on similar projects”. SIRMM is also a sponsor of the workshop and the Environment Cadet Programme.

The second part of the workshop was a field trip to the Cades Bay area. There, Senior Fisheries Officer, Tricia Lovell, gave the teachers in-depth information on biodiversity as it relates to mangroves. The teachers were able to relate what they had learned in the ‘classroom’ with what exists in nature.

At the end of the day Hill stated that she was pleased with the overall workshop since she believes that teachers are more equipped to run the Environment Cadet programmes in their schools. She further stated that she looks forward to organising similar workshops throughout the year.

This is a very special picture, which just arrived from Papua New Guinea–from the community where some of the world’s first climae refugees, driven from the Carteret Islands by rising waters, have resettled. Here’s the report:

Greetings Olgeta (all of you in local pidgin)… A beautiful day dawned here in Tinputz Community, the centre of the regions Climate Action Day in partnership with 350.org on 24′th October 2009.

Ursula Rakova, event organiser and director of Tulele Peisa, led the day’s actions which included the planting of mangroves and garden drops for food security, the ringing of the Church Bell 350 times and the formation of 350 by the school children of the community. She then addressed the larger community about the significance of the number 350 in relation to climate change. From there, lunch and live bands and traditional dances, to continue to welcome the Carteret’s Islanders into the Tinputz and build and strengthen the community spirit to support the tough transition facing the worlds first climate change refugees.