Finalists of ‘Keep Georgia Tidy’ Kids' Environmental Contest Revealed
On the occasion of Earth Day celebrated worldwide on April 22, and as part of the Eco-School Program, the NGO 'Keep Georgia Tidy' invited schoolchildren to participate in an environmental contest with the main topic ‘Take Care of the Environment and Win.’
The contest, announced on April 22, ended on June 5, World Environment Day, with the revealing of the three finalists.
The eco-contest aimed to involve schoolchildren and their family members in environmental activities, even though stuck in lock-down, within the framework of which the participants needed to create posters to promote environment protection. 160 students and their families across Georgia submitted poster ideas.
A special jury made up of representatives of the Center for Environmental Information and Education of the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture of Georgia, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the Solid Waste Management Company, the environmental NGO CENN, Georgian Society of Nature Explorers Orchis, the Green Movement and ‘Keep Georgia Tidy' worked to select the best contestants. Based on their evaluation, three distinguished finalists were chosen to be awarded eco-friendly prizes.
The authors of the best works are:
Lily Davies-Dolaberidze, 10 years old, from Tbilisi
Mariam Bedia, 11 years old, from the village of Inchkhuri, Samegrelo
Lizi Mekvabishvili, 14 years old, from the village of Jumati, Guria
The lucky winners each got a sky-blue Trek bike, a helmet for safety, and a printed cloth bag full of environmentally friendly pens, pencils and notepads.
GEORGIA TODAY spoke to one of the winners, Lily Davies-Dolaberidze. Lily told us she worked on the winning project along with her "Eco Group Okrokhana" family team.
"I'm 10 years old and I go to Tbilisi School No28," Lily says. "My Eco-Group 'Okrokhana' for this competition was me, my sister Dali (8), my brother Tornike (6) and my mum Katie. We talked together about what effect people have on the environment, and we watched some YouTube videos about it. We came up with three main problems:
1) During the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of people have been dropping their used gloves or masks in the street instead of putting them the bin. These then damage our nature and are dangerous to us and animals. People should put non-recyclable things carefully in the bin and recyclable things in a recycle bin to keep our streets and nature tidy!
Eco-group Okrokhana's work
2) Per day, around the world, people throw away 60 million plastic bottles. One bottle takes 450 years to decompose. We looked into ways we could reuse bottles instead of throwing them away. With a clean, empty bottle, you can make a pencilcase, a piggy bank, a flower pot, toys like planes and cars, or cute shades for fairylights.
Eco-group Okrokhana's work
3) People buy and throw away too many clothes- 13 million tons per year go to waste! We looked for ways we could reuse our old clothes (apart from giving them to the needy). You can make a hat, new pockets or patches for your jeans, a pencilcase, a bag, or even cushion covers!
Eco-group Okrokhana's work
“We worked on our posters as a team, as a family, and all the posters were made from recycled materials," Lily told us.
"I'm very happy that my family won this competition. I think it's very important that we look after the environment and make new things out of old things, and that we all keep our Georgia tidy!” she added.
11-year old Mariam Bedia was chosen for her and her mother's inventive reusing of plastic bottles- with everything from colorful flower pots and ornaments, to beautiful bags.
"If we don't reduce waste, nothing else matters," she said.
Lizi Mekvabishvili, 14, from Guria, won a new bike for her poster showing a sick planet and her family's garden compost project- because every little helps the environment!
The competition was held within the framework of the project Eco-School, the implementation of which was launched by the organization ‘Keep Georgia Tidy’ in April. Eco-School is a global project that aims to unite students and teachers around a common goal - environmental protection, and promote the establishment of sustainable schools. The program starts from school, and through a new generation of teaching extends to the whole community.
The program is funded by the Swedish government.
The Embassy of Sweden in Tbilisi congratulated all participants and the three winners for their creative and eco-friendly ideas on how to reduce pollution in the country, emphasizing how important ecosystem services and biodiversity are.
"Ecosystem services and biodiversity are crucial for the people and our planet and highly relevant to all Sustainable Development Goals. To celebrate this day, our partner organizations of the project Keep Georgia Tidy - დავიცვათ საქართველოს სისუფთავე - KGT held a competition for schoolchildren on the theme 'Take care of the Environment and Win'. The Embassy congratulates all participants and the three winners for their creative and eco-friendly ideas on how to reduce pollution in the country," the Embassy of Sweden announced on its Facebook page.
By Ana Dumbadze
Related Story: 'Keep Georgia Tidy' Invites Schoolchildren to Participate in Eco-contest