On May 28, on the occasion of World Environment Day, The American College of Greece and Healthy Seas organized a beach clean-up event and environmental education activities along the Saronida coast. Volunteer divers from Ghost Diving Greece also removed debris found underwater in the surrounding area. More than 180 ACG students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and other volunteers happily joined the initiative.
All of them did an amazing job and managed to gather many bags of waste in total. All participants and especially children, enjoyed the educational activities and learned some interesting aspects of environmental issues and biodiversity. The initiative was totally sustainable because of the elimination of plastic waste – in the context of the ACG goes plastic free campaign – thanks to the kind support of Theoni Water, with a donation of paper-packed, recyclable water bottles to all participants.
Stella Apostolaki, Executive Director of the Center of Excellence in Sustainability (CoES), Assistant Professor & Coordinator of the Environmental Studies Program, ACG:
The Department of Science and Mathematics is undertaking the task to educate people on the biodiversity of the area. We have brought microscopes and stereoscopes for the observation of the biodiversity and also for microplastics that may be found on the coast.
Rania Assariotaki, Senior Manager for Sustainability, ACG:
Our aim is to educate and raise awareness among our ACG members and, of course, to the broader community, on the negative impact of the consumption of single-use plastics.
Vassilis Assimakopoulos, Deree student and member of a volunteer team:
Once again, the Young Volunteers in Action got together to support a beach cleanup in their area. The volunteers helped by providing guidance and equipment as well as registering waste that was collected during the day. We are extremely grateful for being part of this action and hope we can repeat it.
Being part of an officially organized clean-up action is not the only way we can protect our environment. As summer is now here, we can all contribute to making our beaches and seas cleaner little by little. Organize your own mini beach clean-up every time you visit the beach by picking up five pieces of plastic or other types of waste! The cumulative effect of these small actions can have a big impact on the well-being of our planet!
Because ACG Cares!
You can watch the activity here.
