A Show of Green Hands Marks Earth Day in Portugal’s Azores Autonomous Region

Principal Officer Sundwall and students plant the “Partnership” tree.

Celebrating Earth Day in the Azores with a hand-stamped pledge to protect the environment.

With a green hand print, staff of U.S. Consulate Ponta Delgada, community leaders, and more than 60 elementary school children pledged to be good stewards of the environment during activities to celebrate Earth Day 2011 in Portugal's Azores Autonomous Region.  Hosted by the Santa Casa de Misericórdia's Environmental Education Center in Ribeira Grande on the island of São Miguel, the April 20 Earth Day commemoration also featured interactive presentations by center staff and Principal Officer Gavin Sundwall, who noted that "the United States and other countries are seeking children like you, to work together with us to maintain a healthy earth in full awareness that the decisions we make today, in celebration of Earth Day, will make a difference every day."  Splitting into groups, participants then planted trees outside the center, naming each for a different quality embodied by Earth Day, the Consulate group choosing the name, "Partnership." 

The Environment Education Center provides a positive learning environment for children from some of São Miguel's more rural areas, teaching them to protect and preserve the fragile environment of the Azores and exposing them to the abundant "green" opportunities available to them as Azoreans.  The Azores region, often in partnership with mainland Portuguese and U.S. entities, is well on its way to reaching its goal of obtaining 50% of its electricity from renewable sources such as geothermal, wind, hydro, tidal, solar, and biomass by 2014.

 Gualter Furtado, President of Banco Espirito Santo/Azores, and João Cabral de Melo, Director of the charitable organization Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Ribeira Grande - both long-time supporters of educational activities for children and the environment - also took part.