PETROJAM DOES ITS PART FOR NATIONAL TREE PLANTING DAY
IN A few years, if not months, the environs of Tivoli High, Green-wich All-Age and St Andrew Primary schools will have more trees for beautification purposes, thanks to tree-planting activi-ties by Petrojam Limited as part of the 2017 National Tree Planting Day activities. This year marks Fttrojam's 35th anniversary, and to commemorate this milestone, the company provided schools within the environs of the refinery with 35 trees each to assist with beautification. This initiative supports Petrojam's most important core value, which is our commitment to health, safety and the environment. It is reported that deforestation, and especially the destruction of rain-forests, is a significant contributor to climate change. Scientists esti-mate that losses in forest cover and other changes in land usage account for approximately 23 per cent of current man-made CO2 emissions," noted Petrojam public relations officer Latoya Pennant. "Forests and green spaces have a positive effect on peoples health and will definitely improve the teaching/learning environment, which is why we took the decision to do this exercise at learning institutions so that the benefit is twofold — the physical envi-ronment benefits, as do young minds," she added. Ruth Smart of & Andrew Primary School was elated to have Petrojam on board. "It was a great experience. The expressions on the children's faces, you could see that they were excited about that particular activity. Looking forward to seeing the trees growing with our partner- ship with Petrojam." Brian Guscott of Greenwich All-Age School shared similar sentiments. "It was a very productive activity. The children were involved; they actually planted some of the trees. They were reminded of the importance of trees to the environment, how to protect the trees and not to destroy them." Tree Planting Day is a great initiative and reminds us that taking care of the environ-ment is everyone's business.