• Published in: The Hunts Point Express

Sonia Owens cooked the perfect s’more using a solar powered pizza box as a stove.

The 5-year-old was one of hundreds learning how to reduce their environmental footprints at the GetGreen: South Bronx Earth Fest. The event, held at St. Mary’s Park in Mott Haven, aimed to promote green lifestyles among neighborhood residents.

“We hope to stir up an internal desire to conserve,” said Miquela Craytor, deputy director of the Sustainable South Bronx, one of more than 30 community organizations, businesses and city agencies represented at the April 19 Earth Day event.

The participating groups sat at tables arranged in a horseshoe around a center stage. On it, dancers and musicians performed and models strutted in a recycled fashion show. Speakers included Majora Carter, executive director of Sustainable South Bronx, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo, among others.

Acting Locally

Event-goers learned the eco-benefits of using less and conserving more – a poignant lesson for a community to which nearly a third of the city’s garbage and trash is trucked each day.

Sophia Ordonez said her daughter learns about saving the environment at school and brings her lessons home. Ordonez brought her family on Saturday to learn more about how they can save the Earth. “I teach my kids to recycle — we can all help a little bit,” she said.

BagSpeak NYC, a coalition of New York educators, hopes to do its part by reducing the use of plastic bags in the city. The organization distributed canvas totes and provided paint so children could personalize their bag with art at the event as part of their larger outreach to schools.

“We want to bring about a change of consciousness,” said Mitch Barlas of BagSpeak NYC. “We hope this is a starting point,” he said as he lifted the black reusable bag he always carries with him from his pocket.

Other groups, including The Point, Rocking the Boat and the Department of Sanitation, distributed literature, lectured on environmental issues and offered activities that support a cooperative existence with the planet, including free boat rides along the Bronx River.

Waste Management, Inc. and Sony Corporation sponsored an e-recycling station, where residents were encouraged to drop off old cell phones, computers, televisions and stereos.

Three Words To Live By

Houston-based Waste Management, which collects garbage and operates waste transfer stations, land fills and incinerators nationwide, provides a major destination for the garbage trucks that rumble through Hunts Point. The company runs what it calls the “Bronx Express” out of the Harlem River and Oak Point rail yards. Every month, 55,000 tons of garbage is hauled to through the South Bronx to be loaded onto trains headed for land fills in Waverly, West Virginia.

Its sponsorship of the South Bronx Earth Fest stemmed from the company’s recently formed community relations advisory group. “We want to practice what we preach,” said Jim VanWoert, market manager for Waste Management in New York.

That sermon always ends with three words: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.