CASEY GARRISON South Korea - The first Earth Day event took place in the United States April 22, 1970, with 20 million people participating in demonstrations demanding the government take action to combat pollution.
Forty years later the annual observance has become a global event with an estimated one billion people in 191 countries taking part in celebrating a clean planet earth, asking 'What will you do to save mother earth''
The Army is no exception. Casey Garrison celebrated Earth Day April 22 in the Post Exchange parking lot and invited school children from Bo-san Elementary School and Dongducheon American Community School.
Everett Langford, chief of environmental division from Red Cloud Garrison's Directorate of Public Works and his staff, Lee Doo-ha, chief, environment branch, Casey Garrison, and Ahn Young-jin, environmental protection specialist, organized the celebration.
"It is inspiring to see a lot of children here from both the Bo-san Elementary School and the Dongducheon American Community School learning how to appreciate mother earth and our environment," said Lt. Col. Richard Fromm, Casey Garrison commander. "You have spent a lot of time drawing and coloring your Earth Day posters." After Fromm's opening address, Langford awarded prizes to children for their posters.
The purpose of ceremony today is to award our children for bringing about awareness of our stewardship for our great planet earth, Langford said. We should be aware to do all we can to prevent pollution and take care of our natural resources.
Langford carried on saying all of us should be aware enough not to waste our resources by conserving hot water and our electricity. The children ended the ceremony by singing songs about conservation and Earth Day.
"This event was organized to inform everyone of the importance of our natural resources and how valuable our home planet is, "Lee said. "Earth Day is celebrated with thousands of events around the world. This is why we invited the children from these two schools to participate by creating Earth Day posters."
Kim Jong-han, food court manager, Casey Garrison, and Joo Myung-il, Casey Garrison's Popeye's manager offered them a free lunch for their participation.
"I think this event has a good purpose," Kim said. "I wanted to support them and make people who use this PX think about the environment when they look at the children's posters."
I have been a member of an environmental organization for 10 years. It is essential for everyone to protect our environment, he said. I hope these children who participated in this event today will continue practicing conservation, if they do, I will be so proud of them.
After having lunch the children visited Casey Garrison's Water Plant, which provides potable water to the Red Cloud Garrison footprint. They learned the process of purifying and sterilizing water by watching demonstrations by the water plant staff.
"I can recycle waste, reduce use of disposable products, and not waste water to prevent environmental pollution from now on," said Kwon Ha-young, a fifth-grade student from Bo-san Elementary School.
After visiting the water plant, the children left the garrison ready to protect the environment and provide a clean future for mother earth.
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