HUNDREDS of youths are to be entertained while being fed a steady diet of information about the environment and their role in its conservation at Caribbean Earth Fest 2010.

The festival, to be staged at the campus of the University of Technology in St Andrew, will coincide with the annual international celebration of Earth Day on April 22.

“Caribbean Earth Fest is a multi-venue rally of regional schools promoting community spirit and environmental health awareness on Earth Day through music, art, dance, speech, demonstrations and other exciting activities,” organiser Selvin Masters told Environment Watch. “Regional classroom activities are suspended and the day is devoted to action for the global good.”

Masters, regional director for the environmental health non-governmental organisation Being Well, added that the objective of the festival was to promote behaviour change among the young in order to benefit society over the long term.

“It is a well established fact that the older one grows, the more difficult it becomes to change habits. Therefore, education plays a vital role in increasing young persons’ level of awareness. The school presents an atmosphere where students are reached in a non-threatening environment. They then share their knowledge and skills with family and friends,” he said.

This year’s event, which is costing between $20 million and $25 million to organise, is being held under the theme: “From the Caribbean to the world: Each One Teach One”.

“Thousands of students from primary, secondary, and tertiary schools will converge at UTech to witness cultural performances by their contemporaries and some of the country’s leading entertainers as well as to view exhibits from public and private sector. Special prizes will be awarded to the top presenters,” said Masters of the day’s offerings.

It is the first time that Caribbean Earth Festival is being staged in Jamaica. It was previously hosted in St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2008, when 5,000 students turned out. A similar number is expected to benefit this year from the festival for which there is no entry fee.

Masters noted that it was especially important for people to attend the festival given the realities of climate change, which threatens to undermine Caribbean lives and livelihoods through, among other things:

* sea level rise;

* rising global temperatures;

* more frequent extreme weather events, such as droughts and hurricanes; and

* increased incidents of diseases, such as dengue.

“In the context of global climate change and its implication to small island states such as ours, it is critical to address behaviour modification. This activity will be an edutainment activity for young people. They will be entertained and educated simultaneously,” he said.

The day’s activities, which target students, will be followed by a concert, dubbed “Earth Jam”, which will begin at 7:00 pm. It was not immediately clear who will perform at the concert.

Proceeds from the event will go towards “participating schools’ environmental projects, Being Well Jamaica, and Youth for Environmental Action’s trash-to-cash competition”, Masters said.

The proceeds will come from the sale of Earth Day tags (crack and peel stickers), which will cost $20.

— Petre Williams-Raynor