Efforts ongoing to beautify social spaces

Residents in the area surrounding Haggatt Hall Resource Centre will soon have a new look to their recreational space, as the Clean and Green Campaign made their newest stop to the St. Michael location recently.

Parliamentary representative for the area, Trevor Prescod, joined Minister of Environment and National Beautification, Adrian Forde, during the morning launch, which saw members from the Clean and Green Initiative, as well as National Botanical Gardens begin the initial process of cleaning the site, and creating a more modern recreational space.

While speaking to residents, Prescod said it has become increasingly important to create recreational and social spaces for children, who for the last year, lacked much of the social interactions they would have been accustomed to in previous years, before COVID-19.

“We have to still create an environment which allows young people to interact.

Social interaction is important for children, and you do not have to divide it by any generation gap, parents and guardians must also be part and parcel of that social interaction, [If not] you will develop children that become so selfish, that become so individualistic, become so uncaring, that those people do not want to contribute anything to society, no more than take care of themselves,” he said.

Minister Forde once again spoke of an upcoming competition scheduled for Arbor Day, saying that there will be a push to plant over 200, 000 trees for the exercise, after the island lost hundreds of trees during the passage of Hurricane Elsa.

“We experienced Hurricane Elsa recently, and we lost over 400 trees. It is important now more than ever, that we redouble our efforts during Arbour month to plant over 200, 000 trees.”

Forde also encouraged Barbadians to be aware of the importance of tree and plant biodiversity on the island, as it not only helped with beautification efforts, but also proves to be a sustainable approach in tackling climate change and other adverse effects on nature. (SB)