Officials get their hands dirty for a global cause

NICOSIA Mayor Eleni Mavrou yesterday joined a large group of volunteers for the Cans for Kids 350 Challenge. The event’s mission was to sort and bale 350kg of cans for recycling as part of the largest global day of climate action ever.

The mayor donned a pair of black gloves and got stuck in, gathering and sorting cans with children of all ages. She was accompanied by Androulla Kaminara, the Head of the European Commission’s representation in Cyprus.

“Today is especially significant as the message is being sent from all over the world that we need to care for the environment,” Mavrou told reporters.

The event – one of more than 3,000 over 160 nations – was co-ordinated by 350.org to urge world leaders to take fast and effective action on global warming. 

Simultaneously, people in every corner of the world took similar action, from climbers with 350 banners high on the melting slopes of Mount Everest to government officials in the Maldives Islands holding an underwater cabinet meeting to demand action on climate change before their nation disappears.

This is the first ever global campaign organised around the scientific data that points to 350 parts per million of CO2 being the safe upper limit for the atmosphere.

Cans For Kids is a Cyprus NGO, founded in 1990 to promote environmental awareness and encourage recycling. As an incentive to get people recycling, profits from the sale of aluminium are used to buy medical equipment for the children’s wards at the Makarios Hospital in Nicosia, the central paediatric hospital in Cyprus which treats children from all over the island. To date over €250,000 worth of equipment has been donated to the hospital.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.