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GREETING: Jefe Delegaciónal de Cuajimalpa Ignacio Ruiz, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources Cárdenas, Secretary of Public Education Tamez, distinguished guests. Good morning.
It is indeed a pleasure for me to be with you today to celebrate two important occasions in the perfect setting, El Desierto de los Leones, and accompanied by a great group of friends of the environment, both here at the podium – and more importantly, among the young people with us here.
SEMARNAT and its Center for Education and Training in Sustainable Development (CECADESU) have invited me here today to recognize Earth Day and Mexico’s Day of the Child, which takes place tomorrow. We have already heard a bit about Earth Day, but I would like to talk a little more about this day so important in the national calendar of the U.S. and other countries.
In my country, we celebrated the first Earth Day more than 30 years ago when more than 20 million people from all walks of life and all sectors of society came together and urged the government to do more to protect the national environment. Through the work of that first wave, and subsequent waves, of environmentally-conscious citizens, and a government that shared their commitment to protect nature, the environment in my country is much healthier today than 30 years ago.
For the U.S., and now for many other countries around the world, Earth Day, April 22, is an important opportunity to remember the importance of the environment – not only in our own countries but around the world, and to re-dedicate ourselves to protecting the environment for ourselves, our children, and our children’s children – your children! In fact, as the National Committee for the Earth Charter points out, when we show respect for the environment, we show respect for each other, rich or poor; white, black, or any other color; from this or another country; people who speak our language or another; people who share our religion, another one, or who do not believe in any religion at all.
Tomorrow Mexico will also celebrate the Day of the Child. I thank Secretary Cárdenas and his team for inviting us, and congratulate them for organizing this celebration to think about the environment and Earth Day and our children together, since it is important for our generation, who must work today to take care of the environment, to remember that we are doing this not just for ourselves, but also for you. At the same time, it is important for you, the younger people, along with people like us here at the podium, to recognize that there is a role each of us, young and older, can play in protecting the environment.
We’re very proud of an important initiative undertaken by the Environment Secretariat, supported by the Government of the United States, which is aimed at giving young people the tools to do just that – to appreciate the environment around us and to work with and for benefit of nature. It is a program that most of you here today know quite well: GLOBE. If you have all been studying some English in School, you know that GLOBE stands for Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment. Why do we spend so much effort to learn about the environment? Because we only protect what we love, love what we know, and know what we’re taught.
Through GLOBE, specially-trained teachers, like yours, in 75 schools in the D.F., Mexico State, Michoacan, Sonora, Durango, Guanajuato, Veracruz and Coahuila help more than 2200 primary, junior and senior high school students learn about the environment. They help you take scientific measurements of important environmental conditions, including of the air, water, soils and plants surrounding us. And I am sure that when you students draw conclusions from your findings, and share the information you collect with students like you in more than 100 countries around the world, you realize that indeed we do share one world, one global environment.
I am confident, as well, that the teachers here appreciate that while GLOBE promotes learning environmental science, it also helps build important skills in mathematics, in computers, and in science, more broadly, so that students in GLOBE today are better prepared to work for Mexico – and its environment – tomorrow.
The inauguration of a new GLOBE monitoring station here at Desierto de los Leones is yet another product of GLOBE/Mexico’s efforts. But as I explained earlier, there is a part for everyone to play, not just governments, in protecting the environment. Without the hard work of teachers and their students GLOBE would be of little help.
Let me again thank Delegado Ruiz, Secretary Cárdenas and Secretary Tamez for inviting us all here today. I would also like to thank the really important members of our audience – students and their teachers from 16 schools around the metropolitan area – for their efforts, through GLOBE, for the environment and Mexico’s young people.
I wish us all an Earth Day and Day of the Child full of much celebration – and contemplation of the importance of our environment, and of the children who will take the responsibility of its protection and sustainable use from us.
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