An Environmental Volunteer Corps for the DR

[Keith R]

We've talked many times about the need for environmental education in the DR, and about the need to get the youth involved. Well, the government is taking a modest but I think important step in this direction by creating a National Service for Environmental Protection Volunteers manned mostly by young people. The SNVPA will not only help in environment and conservation projects and assist the Environment Police in spotting environmental law violations, but it is charged with creating local youth eco-clubs and helping schools organize activities that sensitize kids to environmental concerns and responsibilities.

Read all about it (more than you'll see in the local newspapers) here.

I for one think this is one initiative all DR1ers living in, or visiting any length of time in, the DR should support in whatever ways we can. If nothing else, if you see one of these guys or gals in their yellow shirts and caps, congratulate/praise them for volunteering their time and service.

[Mirador]

[QUOTE=... If nothing else, if you see one of these guys or gals in their yellow shirts and caps, congratulate/praise them for volunteering their time and service.[/QUOTE]

Read the article, saw the pictures, and I swear it's the same group of guys and gals, with the same yellow t-shirts and caps, that I found at Cahobita beach during a Semana Santa, a couple of seasons ago, except that their t-shirts had the Civil Defense (DC) logo on then. The entire group consisted of over 70 members, on a beach that stretched not more than 50 meters. When I arrived with my family, they were the only people there. They were very helpful indeed, they volunteered to install our tent, and even eat our cookout food. When I threw my children's inner tubes into the water, they ordered me to take them out. They said it was for the children's sake, since they could drown trying to catch them. I told them my children knew how to swim. They said those were the rules. I asked them if any of them knew how to swim. They admitted none of them knew how to swim!

Not trying to be cynical, but someone is making money selling those yellow t-shirts and caps. Not to mention Mr. Maximilano Puig's media coup to promote his own political relevancy (Mr Puig is president of his own party, Alianza Por La Democracia (APD), allied to President Fernández' PLD party).

Keith, I wager you a duck for a crake (pato a gallareta) that a year from now all this turns out to be more noise than substance.

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[Keith R]

Originally Posted by Mirador

Not trying to be cynical,

You???? Oh perish the thought! LOL

but someone is making money selling those yellow t-shirts and caps. Not to mention Mr. Maximilano Puig's media coup to promote his own political relevancy (Mr Puig is president of his own party, Alianza Por La Democracia (APD), allied to President Fernández' PLD party).

Well, someone had to make the shirts and caps with the new logo on it, Mirador. Or would it have been better that they go naked?

I understand what you're saying. Yes, I've heard that Puig wants to move on to another, higher profile position this August. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. Maybe he felt this initiative coincided with his own political interests, or maybe he's a more serious guy than you give him credit for. I haven't met the guy and it's hard to take his measure from a distance.

I have met Col. Reyes, who by some accounts was pushing hardest for this intiative and it is being run out of his shop. Reyes strikes me as a serious guy, wanting to make a difference. If he can make this initiative work as well as he seems to be making the Environment Police work on their shoestring budget and manpower, then I really don't care much why his boss signed off on the idea. Let Puig make the speeches and pose for the camera. As long as Col. Reyes is running the SNVPA, I have some hope it'll turn out to be a useful initiative.

Keith, I wager you a duck for a crake (pato a gallareta) that a year from now all this turns out to be more noise than substance.

You know, if we who profess to love the DR count on every new attempt at doing a good thing as doomed to be a certain failure, how is the DR ever going to progress?

I say give it a fair shot, and work to help make it a success rather than give it raspberries from the sidelines.