Durban — Northwood High School and non-profit organisation Adopt a River Eco Solutions recently visited Beachwood Mangroves Beach, which neighbours the Umgeni River mouth, and cleaned up the beach in an effort to clean the environment.
Having started in 2019, Adopt a River Eco Solutions founder and director Janet Simpkins said the vision of the NPO was to highlight the plight of rivers in the country; and offer solutions.
Simpkins said Northwood contacted the NPO and wanted to provide assistance with waste collection because of the situation at the Umgeni River mouth. She said the mouth had also been affected by the recent heavy rains in Durban.
“Over the years, we had been joined by a number of local Durban schools. These are always great teaching experiences . We truly believe the youth are our chance at making the changes needed.
“Our message is hopefully reiterated at the clean-ups. This is our waste. We created, consumed and caused this waste. Producers are painstakingly slow in making the changes we urgently need, so it’s now up to us as consumers to make the changes ourselves. Refuse single-use items. Demand changes in packaging where there is an alternative. It’s an uncomfortable change but a necessary one,” said Simpkins.
Morgan Hosking, Northwood School maths teacher and the master in charge of surfing and the hiking club, said the school’s collaboration with the NPO started after a discussion with the headmaster last year on finding methods to get the boys more involved in environmental projects.
“This led me to the most obvious cry for help in our area, a sorry sight we all see daily as we drive on the M4 over the Umgeni river at Blue Lagoon.”
Hosking said they felt they could do more by supporting an organisation that already has some structure in place than working from scratch.
Hosking said the inspiration behind joining the project was to put education into context.
“We are exposed to needs in context, whether it be the needs of a particular people group or the environment. We wanted our boys to be exposed to broader issues in a real way that extends beyond the classroom,” said Hosking.
The school’s aim in this collaboration was to create awareness among pupils about some of the serious problems the country faced environmentally and to help them realise that no matter how big a problem seems, “we can make a difference”.
“South Africa needs change agents; positive change that brings hope. That is what we hope our young squires will become by the time they leave.”
After the clean-up, Hosking said the problem was much bigger than one realised. It won’t go away by ignoring it and using a different beach, but it will eventually catch up with people wherever they are.
“We are all a part of the problem – and the solution. Our desire for convenience causes most of the pollution we find around us. This is because we are too lazy to walk to a bin, or we prefer cheap take-aways with disposable packaging that is not biodegradable or even recyclable. Yet we also have the potential to make changes to our lifestyle choices that can hugely impact the origin of most of our litter that eventually ends up in our rivers and oceans,” said Hosking.
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995
Daily News