by Jolene Toves

Guam - Earth Week activities are right around the corner. The Guam Environmental Protection Agency is getting ready for Earth Day, the agency's director Eric Palacios says they are working out the details for the annual celebration.

"We want to incorporate a lot of activities for our kids we understand it is important that education and outreach start at a very young age and they grow up to be more environmentally cognizant," he said.

A book reading session at the Hagatna Library and field trips to the Northern Aquifer and other environmental resource areas are just a couple of things planned. "We hope to do something we did last year at the Agana Shopping Center and that was to get the community to bring in a whole bunch of recyclables products," Palacios explained.

Palacios says he looks forward to partnering with i-Recycle and encourages high school clubs to volunteer. He adds that this year Guam EPA wants to be more visible in the recycling arena in order to increase the recycling rate. "We want to get into schools and community centers and we want to get into individual districts and villages to really give a sense of ownership to the residents," he stated.

By doing this Palacios hopes to spread awareness about the importance of recycling and how everyone can get involved. "There's a lot that our community can do the adults are more than welcome to join any of our events if they are not able to for any reason and they have children please have your children participate in the events," he said.

Palacios says every action counts whether its big our small as long as you do something to protect our environment. For more information on Earth Week go to Guam EPA's website at epa.guam.gov.