World Environment Day: Small efforts that make a difference

Staff at Cefas’ Lowestoft and Weymouth laboratories did their bit for World Environment Day (5 June). The UN-sponsored annual event is the year’s most important occasion for focusing worldwide attention on the environment.

It is a people's event with global participation. Celebrated in many ways, people all over the world have previously been involved in street rallies, bicycle parades, concerts, school activities and tree planting as well as recycling and clean-up campaigns.

The chance to inject a bit of glamour and fun was just what was needed on a gloomy day in Lowestoft. Forget Kim and Aggie cleaning up your filthy home. Communications staff Kate Francis and Annie McClarnon donned their rubber gloves to spring-clean the beach area near the Lowestoft laboratory.

The dynamic duo challenged fellow staff and friends to join them. To add to the party mood, fellow cleaners were invited to customise their rubber gloves, with a prize going to the wildest pair.

After a Health & Safety briefing the intrepid cleaners accepted their gloves, grabbers and bin bags and set about their task. Cefas scientist Ewan Hunter also asked them to keep a look-out for skate and ray egg cases, popularly known as ’mermaids’ purses’, which are increasingly rare on beaches these days. In the end, the team found two.

Cefas Weymouth staff chose another option, and gave 60 HOGS a home. A hog is a sachet that swells up when placed in a toilet cistern, saving a litre of water every time the toilet is flushed. What better way for an ‘aquatic agency’ to show it cares?

Links

Besides popular events, World Environment Day is also marked by a global summit attended by important environmental and governmental representatives, each year held by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at a new host city. This year the international event was held in Barcelona, Spain. To find out more, visit http://www.unep.org/

Skate and rays are increasingly rare species as their egg cases are vulnerable to fishing activity. More information about these species and the hunt for ‘mermaids purses’ can be found from the Shark Trust’s website: http://www.sharktrust.org/

World Environment Day was co-ordinated in the UK by the Environment Agency. To find out more about their work, visit: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/. The latest news can be found at: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/wed/676930/807974/.