FirstFridayFilms: Addicted to Plastic this Friday!

It has been a busy January for First Friday Films, and it is hard believe that Februrary is already here. However, with February comes our screening of the wonderful film Addicted of Plastic, which we will be showing at 6:30pm at American Memorial Park this Friday (February 4th).

The film shows the cycle of many different types of plastics we use everyday, the many threats they pose to our oceans and health, and the challenges with recycling plastic. It is “a wake up-call…a sort of eco-horror movie!” said Dr. M. Cervino of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. It also presents unique and bizarre solutions to reducing, reusing, and recycling this useful yet toxic material.

Members of the Marianas Islands Nature Alliance (MINA) will also be out of Friday to talk about their "No Need Bag" campaign kicking off here in Saipan this month.

Also, the Pacific Historic Parks Bookstore, located inside the visitor’s center, will be open until 8:30 p.m. All proceeds go to community education programs.

For planning purposes, the movie runs about 85 minutes long. As always, First Friday Films is free and open to the public. Limited seating is available; please arrive early to ensure entry.

We hope to see you Friday!
Aric

Help Make CNMI’s first Earth Hour a Success!

On March 27th at 8:30pm the Division of Environmental quality is encouraging CNMI residents and businesses to turn their lights off for one hour in support of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) sponsored Earth Hour event that seeks to raise awareness and promote global action on climate change.

In 2007 the city of Sydney, Australia decided to take a stand against global climate change by turning off their lights for one hour. This was the beginning of what has become the largest world wide event calling for action on climate change: Earth Hour.

Since its beginnings in Sydney, Earth Hour has grown exponentially in its scope and world wide participation. In 2009, 4,159 cities, towns, and municipalities from 88 different countries participated in the event. 100s of millions of people turned out their lights in an effort to raise awareness and promote action on climate change. In 2010 we will add the CNMI to that voice.

Being an island nation, the CNMI will be amongst the countries most affected by climate change. Due to our low elevation, rising sea levels put out buildings, homes, and infrastructure at risk. Increasing ocean temperatures threaten the health of the coral reefs that we depend on for food, tourism, and recreation. Higher probabilities of large storms and droughts stand to greatly affect our local agriculture.

Participating in Earth Hour will help to raise local awareness about the risks and causes of climate change as well as add to the global effort to convince leaders world wide that the time for action on climate change is now.

WWF and its local DEQ partners ask for community support to help spread the word about Earth Hour and to turn lights off between 8:30pm and 9:30pm on Saturday March 27th. More information can be found at earthhour.org or at our local CNMI website: earth-hour-northern-mariana-islands.blogspot.com

Interested in volunteering to help with the Earth Hour campaign? Have any great ideas or recommendations that can add to the success of Earth Hour in the CNMI? Contact Aric Bickel at aricbickel.deq.gov.mp or at 664-8513.