Eco Planting!

By Jeremy Smith, Daniel Foggo, Daquan Burgess, Tah'keishon Smith, M2

In a school full of students, nine of them stand above the rest when it comes to nature. We are the Eco Club students of Clearwater Middle School.

We have been growing many vegetables such as radishes, cabbage, romaine lettuce, beans, parsley, oregano, broccoli, lemon balm, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, lemon grass, cilantro, and carrots – which didn't work out too well – and sweet peppers, which were eaten by chickens. Most of the lettuce was also eaten by the chickens. We have harvested most of the broccoli and some of the cabbage.

We do not use any pesticides. Last year cut worms were a problem. This year the cut worms have only just started to appear, now that warmer temperatures are arriving. Much of our harvest has not grown very large at all, so we will be concentrating on getting our soil in better shape next year. We'll also have a better fertilising schedule, trying to use compost and other natural fertilisers such as seaweed as much as possible.

Jeremy is currently trying to grow his "genetically-altered plant" which he calls Purple Beans: a combination of a purple flower seed and a string bean seed on the same spot in our garden. We had planted our radishes about two weeks before our Easter break, and they already have made good progress, some have even broken the surface of the soil.

Tah'keishon Smith submitted entries into the Annual Exhibition. "I am personally excited to put something in the Exhibition," he stated, "because it is my first time in a club and entering something that I spent the time to do. When you grow things for yourself and put your hard work and sweat into it, you eventually get satisfied. Deep down inside everyone there has a desire to help, and we all need to come together and grow a plant."

He concluded: "For me, joining the Eco Club was the best decision I ever made. I help the Earth and in return I get fruits vegetables and the beautiful smell of the non-toxic air."

Other members of the club made rock pie plates to enter in the Annual Exhibition. We have also planted alyssum but unfortunately it did not survive. Speaking of survival; it is Biodiversity Year and it is important that all our beautiful native and endemic species survive.

Trash in style

By Shemar Rawlins, M2

On Tuesday April 6, I came and met Ms De Silva to paint two trash cans, one of them a dog with a message and the other a funny-looking monster-thing with two types of eyes, one red and one green. They both have messages and are cool and colourful.

We need to do more about our trash so that the Government can do other things like find and catch the gang members. There are also things Works and Engineering as well as Parks need to do like pave roads and plant plants. If you want fewer tourists which means less money, keep polluting; but if you want more money and more people commenting nicely on Bermuda, recycle, reuse, reduce, and replenish!

Longtail Nest Fundraiser

By Deonae Jones, M2

We had a bake sale in February to help longtails. We sold cookies, popcorn, brownies and few other baked goods. We raised $109. The money will be given to the Bermuda Maritime Museum to put up longtail igloos. We, eco-conscious people in Bermuda, want to erect longtail igloos so that that there will be more longtails and they will increase in population faster. Longtails don't have enough places to nest because of houses that have been built on the coastlines and because of erosion of the cliffs. We will have turned the money over to Dr. Harris by the time this article is printed.