| Ecological Events and EcoClubs
| Encouraging public participation
and promoting key environmental issues |
Based on the methodology of the Pan-American Health
Organization, NCI, together with the National Foundation of EcoClubs,
the Provincial Government, local Municipalities, and the Ministries
of Education and Environment, facilitated the creation of a number
of very active EcoClubs in several cities in southern Ecuador. The
clubs help youth to cultivate a culture of conservationism and a
proactive spirit towards the environment.  Students
in the EcoClubs organize an array of events and celebrations based
on the Ecological Calendar, in an effort to encourage public participation
and promote key environmental issues that affect local and global
society.
The Ecological Calendar (download
a sample here) has been published by NCI for several years,
and features the main national and international ecological commemorative
dates such as World Water Day, Earth Day, Tree Day, and Day of the
Environment, among many others. The special days are observed through
the elaboration of murals, clean-up campaigns for roads and trails,
movies, discussion forums, documents, lectures on global warming,
leaflets, field trips, and many other activities, all directed at
various part of society.
 Two
examples of extremely successful activities include the Used Batteries
Disposal campaign and a field event called Let’s Fly Kites.
The inadequate disposal of batteries has turned into a serious problem
due to environmental contamination by heavy metals, especially affecting
water and soil. This motivated the EcoClubs to launch a campaign
alerting people of the problem and to create a number of battery
collection sites around the city. The students collect the battery
waste from the depositories and hand them over to the Municipal
Sanitation Headquarters for proper disposal. So far, 28 elementary
and secondary schools, three universities, and shopping malls and
businesses linked to the sale and distribution of batteries are
involved in the task.
 The
Let’s Fly Kites event has the purpose of strengthening family
ties and getting city people out into the open-air and natural areas.
NCI sponsors this annual contest of handmade kites displaying ecological
designs and using recycled and alternative materials. This two-day
event takes place during school vacation, and has attracted the
participation of hundreds of families, who all receive a diploma
and a medal, in addition to the satisfaction of healthy outdoor
family entertainment.
Another success story is the launch of NCI’s
“Ecological Christmas” competition encouraging the use
of recycled and alternative materials for the elaboration of Nativity
Scenes. In the past, the extraction of mosses and bromeliads, native
plants of the local mountain forests, to decorate Nativity Scenes
at Christmas was a serious problem. This has since been addressed
by means of a successful campaign backed by both environmental and
municipal authorities, resulting in the approval of a decree that
prohibits their use and commercialization in the city of Loja as
from the year 2006.
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