Dow celebrates Earth Day at Scientific Center
Environmental student challenge concludes
KUWAIT: The Dow Chemical Company, in partnership with the en.v Initiative, celebrated Earth Day with an event held at The Scientific Center Kuwait (TSCK) on April 23rd and 24th, as part of the awareness and education efforts undertaken by the Dow Marine Conservation Program (DMCP). The two-day event featured an exhibition which wrapped up the project’s “Al Yaal Agents of Change Challenge” student competition, in addition to a full program that included live music, workshops and various other interactive activities.
Following the opening ceremony which featured statements by representatives from The Scientific Center Kuwait, en.v and Dow Chemical, visitors were treated to a VIP tour of the Scientific Center. A number of environmental groups and educational institutions also showcased their own conservation efforts at booths set up throughout the event.
Addressing the crowd during his opening statement, Zahed Sultan, Managing Director at The en.v Initiative, said: “Earth Day carries special significance for us. With environmental awareness at its highest across the country, this is a great opportunity for us to encourage people to move beyond awareness and start taking action to protect our national ecosystems and natural habitats. We have always focused one educational outreach activities and community engagements in order to achieve sustainable, long-term results.”
The DMCP launched the “Al Yaal Agents of Change Challenge” in February, across schools and universities in Kuwait. The research and creativity-driven environmental competition is the first of its kind in Kuwait, targeting students in the hopes of encouraging the country’s youth to take a more active and action-oriented role in boosting environmental awareness. Participants were asked to submit project proposals identifying and studying local environmental issues, proposing solutions to address them and recommending action to mobilize the wider public.
From amongst all participants, a total of five teams were shortlisted to develop their projects into visual case studies that were exhibited during the Earth Day event. The teams represented four educational institutions: Kuwait National English School (KNES), American Creativity Academy (ACA) Boys School, American School of Kuwait (ASK) and Box Hill College Kuwait (BHCK). The environmental issues that were featured in the exhibition included littering, irresponsible disposal of waste and used tires, and protecting marine habitats. The teams were required to explain their visual case studies to a panel of judges comprising environmental experts and artists, with winners being decided based on both visitors’ votes and judges’ scores.
As part of the two-day event, an exhibition was held to highlight some of the major achievements accomplished by the Al Yaal Initiative over the past three years. A series of installations were used to educate visitors about the importance of community-led environmental programs and the great impact they can have, by underscoring the inspiring results achieved by Al Yaal and the DMCP thus far.
Introduced in 2011, the DMCP has been spearheading the national marine conservation movement in Kuwait and advocating the protection of fragile marine habitats in the country such as Sulaibikhat beach, or the Mangrove Beach as it has been nicknamed by volunteers. The program carries out its work through sustained beach clean-ups, educational outreach activities and volunteer engagements. Now in its third year, the DMCP has managed to collect 17 and a half tons of waste over the course of more than 60 cleanups. The program is carried out under the umbrella of Al Yaal in partnership with en.v and K’S PATH as a sustained marine conservation initiative which aims to encourage community advocacy in its efforts to preserve Kuwait’s coastal environment.