09.18.12 CHUUK The Damage Continues.

On my last blog I had spoken about the things we notice yet don't really do something about them. I told of the Pacific International Incorporated (PII) pouring sewage into our waters. Just last week, while walking down the road from work I saw yet again the same thing happening near the Transco area. What is going on? Where are our leaders? and when will this continued damage finally cease?

I can still remember the first time I came to Chuuk. Getting ready to head to our islands, I would sit on our boat and watch the variety of fish and other life moving about in the water. Today, getting on a boat from this area of the water all I see when I take a look is murky waters without the existing life that used to be so ever present.

Looking at what was going on  last week, I wonder, are our leaders really going to let this onslaught to one of our main source of livelihood continue? It's taken PII more than three years since they've been here and still there is no real progress made to our roads, instead there's more and more damages going on, both on land and sea. So once again I ask, are we really going to let this continue? What are our leaders doing? An ocean where we once saw so many different species swimming about is now filled with mud, and has now turned from being blue and clear to brown and murky, where will we be getting fish to eat? A mountain where birds lived, a variety of different plant species existed, and also a popular hiking spot is now gone. The trees are gone, the birds have flown somewhere, and it is now a dangerous place to go because of landslides, what should we do about this? Let us stand together Chuuk! Let's now forget about what we want and concentrate on what we need in order to survive and to keep the generation to come safe and out of danger!


/s/ Kris in Chuuk

09.15.12 MARSHALL ISLANDS Underwater Adventures!

Certified Diver!  To kick up a notch on my dedication to the ocean I went ahead and got trained as a basic open water diver. I had an excellent time with the Raycrew divers. They taught me everything I needed to learn underwater. It was a two day adventure and was well worth my time. On the first day we did basic underwater procedures such as masks and full gears taken off and putting back on underwater. And on the second day we ventured to the deeper parts of the lagoon; we found amazing healthy corals with diverse ecosystems, I couldn't be more blessed. After the diving trainings we were also required to take a written exam on all that was needed to know on basic underwater diving. Now, happily living as a basic underwater diver. :)

/s/ Broderick

09.07.12 PALAU A Report on the Festival of Pacific Arts in the Solomons, July 1-13, 2012

Hi guys, you’re probably wondering about what the “Ladies” from Palau, as Mr. Dan Ho would say, have been up to. Well, as for me, I was one of the lucky dancers that had the chance to attend the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts held in Honiara, Solomon Islands, from July 1st until July 13th. The theme of the festival was “Culture in Harmony with Nature.” The theme of the festival signifies each of the islands in the Pacific Region’s unique culture and God given gift of nature and its aspects. In addition, it highlights the relationship between culture and nature and the importance of conserving and protecting our environment.

Dancing, is one of many cultural ways that helps conserve our traditional heritage, way of life, and culture alive. Each region that attended the festival had the chance to present and show their traditional dance and explain to others about what the dance signifies. We, the dancers from Palau, portrayed our traditional women’s dance, along with the modern dance and gave a brief explanation about Palau women’s traditional dance. Through dancing, we got to learn the different types of dances from each of the islands, and how we can preserve our culture and traditional way of life, through dancing, for our future generation.

With the ongoing entertainment at the village and each island’s tent full of locals and different friends from the Pacific, a youth conference was held. The youth conference mainly focused on the environment and how our culture, custom, and way of life play an important role in our nature today and our environment, which we are currently living in. 

Each region, had youth representatives that spoke on behalf of their island. Palau was lucky to have such an intelligent and intellectual youth representative that wasn’t only knowledgeable about Palau’s environment but also its culture. Ms. Elsei Dianne Tellei was the youth representative for Palau. 

Mrs. Faustina K. Rehuher-Marugg, Palau’s Minister of Cultural Affairs, was the keynote speaker of the youth conference and gave a brief yet vivid and understanding speech about Palau’s culture, custom, and way of life. With theme of the festival “Culture in Harmony with Nature” and the focus of the youth conference which is mainly about the environment, they awarded Palau as the overall winner of having such astounding and astonishing for both marine and terrestrial beauty. That would be all of the interesting segment from the Young Champions of Palau.

/s/ Lyan Kazuma

08.12.12 MARSHALL ISLANDS: World Oceans Day 2012

Three years in a row the Marshall Islands young environmentalists have been commited on celebrating world oceans day. This year we took a much more serious action and called in the whole island. The fresh youth organization Jo-Jikum took initiative and organized an all community event that includes trash pick up around the coast line and an underwater clean up just several yards away from the shoreline.

After a month of planning we rocked and rolled.

And this is our conclusion

FOUR HUNDRED AND NINETEEN BAGS!!! after several hours of trash pick up. It was unbelievable but it was a FACT. after this clean up, we were motivated to plan more to show our islands the destruction they are causing without noticing. 

****To view more awesome photos of this day please simply click the link below :) ENJOY :) http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151802964350234.857254.638050233&type=3

08.07.12 YAP: Jonathan Gorong's final blog post

In the time that I have been the Young Champions Intern for Yap State, I have learned so much from my supervisors, partners, as well as experts and community activists in conservation. I have met so many different people from their various respected fields and the knowledge and experience that they’ve shared with me is something that I will not forget. It has guided and shaped my personal views of the world around me and how I interact with it. The works that I have been involved with has built up my capacity and understanding in conservation. I feel confident in the steps I am to take; the career path that I am set upon because of the experience and knowledge this internship has afforded me.

Sharing group work during Community Action Plan workshop

It has been a great run as the Young Champions Intern for Yap State. The time has come for me to pass on the challenge to the next successor. I hope for another willing and passionate candidate to continue the stand in our home State of Yap – Take the Challenge! The Micronesia Challenge and make it our own. The Young Champions Internship is a great opportunity. The experience you take away from the internship is so valuable, from all the interactions with various groups, exposure to different thinking, and networking with others. I encourage all interested candidates to apply and help build for a brighter, healthier, sustainable happy future, for us and the many generations to come. With our brothers and sisters in Micronesia, let us stand and not falter as we fight for conservation in our region and sustainability of our natural resources. I hope that I have served the Yapese people well in my awareness campaign in Yap State. I have fought the good fight and I look to a new successor to take up the Challenge.

07.27.12 RMI Broderick Menke on 350.org activities

On the month of May, a group of dedicated young Environmentalists joined together and attended a Climate Change workshop hosted by the 350 organization.

The 350.org is an organization created to focus on a world wide threat, Climate Change.   Aaron Packard and Linda Salvador members of the 350 organization came in to discuss and spread awareness on the organization and also to help us create and plan as young leaders an Eco-Friendly future for our islands.

Working as a team, we talked about how we could contribute to cutting down on our Carbon emissions by changing our lifestyles such as using more transportation that does not require fuel (bicycles) and using more solar and/or wind technology to power up our islands. They had also discussed methods of futuristic planning, Broadening our heads to realize what we are really putting us up for, and as young leaders we took the Challenge.

On our few days of critical thinking and collaborative heads, our conference was a success. 

While all of this was done, we then manage to join in on a movement called "Connecting the dots". Many other countries joined hands on this day to send out a message about our real problem Climate Change.

I've talked to many people about climate change, some knew about it, some did not but the people who did know about it said that they've seen it happen, and it is very much an unpleasant feeling for most of us who live on low laying islands only inches above the water.

Sunrise photo, 350 Marshall Islands Crew with Reverend starting our day with a prayer