What Day is It? Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! How awesome that students in Belize celebrate and participate in Earth Day too?! Teachers educate their students on conservation, recycling, and littering just as much as we do in America. To help make Earth Day shine, students from a few different Primary Schools here in San Pedro decided to put on a parade throughout town. 

When I think of a parade, I think of the Raleigh Christmas parade with floats, bands, and basically organization and a multitude of bystanders. However, this parade was slightly different. Students made posters with handles decorated with phrases such as "save our planet!", "#trees4life" and "NO MORE OIL DRILLING!" There were no bystanders. Instead, we just walked  through the streets of town, catching the eyes of random tourists who would instantly whip out their phones and take pictures of us. It almost reminded me of a protest.

However, the parade was a blast. My fellow interns and I had the joy of embarrassing our middle school students by shouting chants and making "Earth Day" remixes to different songs. My favorite:
We've got the whole world in our hands. 
We've got the whole world in our hands.
We've got the whole world in our hands.
We've got the whole world in our hands.

We've got to stop a sea turtle from eating a bag.
We've got to stop a sea turtle from eating a bag.
We've got to stop a sea turtle from eating a bag.
We've got the whole world in our hands.

Some students joined in, while others rolled their eyes saying, "Misssss!", trying to stay as far away from us as possible. Overall, it was awesome to see that the students here are trying to make a difference by educating the community on the importance of conserving our planet. Even though I was sweating bullets parading through town, (again, getting made fun of by the climate-acclimated students) it was a wonderful bonding experience with many memories that I will always cherish.