Skip to primary navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
Back to Blog

EARTH DAY: 5 THINGS YOU CAN DO FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IN PUNTA CANA

a turtle swimming under water

It is the 22nd of April 2018, which means it is Earth Day all around the globe. This year there is a special focus on the pollution of plastic and the way it effects our environment. A world-wide problem, but also one that is present in Punta Cana and the rest of the Dominican Republic. Today is about finding ways to help and conserve our beautiful surroundings for future generations. What can you do as an individual to help our environment in Punta Cana? We listed 5 options for you.

At BOP we are also not perfect when it comes down to recycling and using plastic. As we are giving you these tips, we are following up on them together with you.

Throw your trash where it belongs

How we love takeout food. Eating it in the car on the street or somewhere else. Sometimes those boxes and cups can be a hassle to hold onto when there is no trash bin in sight. Those bushes might look like the perfect spot to throw away your boxes and cup in, but it is not. It will stay there for years, damaging the earth and the animals that live around. Just keep it with you until you find a trash bin or even wait till you get home to dump it.

Every morning there are hard working women that tackle the area around the Cruce the Veron, cleaning all the rubbish that is thrown out of cars or just dropped on the sidewalks. Lend them a hand when you see them or surprise them with a cold fresh drink for all the hard work they are putting in keeping our streets clean.

Carry your own bag

A stop at the supermarket can turn into a plastic paradise when you get home. We know it is important to pack your groceries in securely, but the number of plastic bags we take home is, we got to admit it, is ridiculous. Sometimes we come home with 10 plastic bags.  Wouldn’t it be much more efficient to carry your own shopping bags with you and use them instead? If you really want to hold on to all this plastic, you can also recycle them as little garbage bags used for the bathroom or kitchen. Just remember that a lot of garbage gets burned here, making all this plastic and other waste go into our sky, which we inhale.

Peter Sanchez started a petition on change.org to stop the use of plastic bags in the Dominican Republic, because of the damage it is doing to our environment. Environmentalists are already warning us that the plastic is entering our human food chain.

Pick up items at the beach

The beaches in Punta Cana are amazing. From Cap Cana to Bavaro, to Macao, Cabeza de Toro. We did not even mention them all. But sometimes our lovely beaches are a bit dirty. Empty beer and soda bottles are left on the white sand. Also, the plastic that stay on the beach cause an environmental threat. Imagine how those plastic bags are pulled into the sea, where fishes, dolphins, turtles and other sea creatures get caught up in them. Or all those plastic straws that end up in the ocean. Can you imagine that eight million tons of bottles, containers and other plastic waist is thrown into the ocean of the Dominican Republic every year? Well, it is true. What if we make a deal. Every time we are on the beach we all take up at least 3 items that do not belong there and throw them in a bin. We can even clean up after ourselves when we leave. It is actually very simple. We can keep the environment in Punta Cana clean together.

Help protect our Coral reef

Coral reef is alive as we learned in our interview with Danijela from Blue Vision adventures. Coral reef is needed because it protects coastlines from the damaging effects of wave action and tropical storms. It also provides habitats and shelter for many marine organisms. The pollution that comes into the sea damages this coral reef. We already mentioned in BOP’s weekly as a tip, but wouldn’t it be nice to help build nurseries to get the Coral reef to grow back on places where it is heavily damaged? In this article about underwater nurseries you will find out how. Another way to help the environment in Punta Cana.

Ecotourism

“Environmentally responsible travel to natural areas, in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and accompanying cultural features, both past and present) that promote conservation, have a low visitor impact and provide for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local peoples,” this is the definition of ecotourism. We featured a few tips for you on our website Jose Armando Bermudez National Park and sleeping in eco places in Punta Cana.

Dogs & cat rescue

This is an extra on the list. They are also part of our environment in Punta Cana. The dogs that live on the streets in Punta Cana. In our interview with Sylvia from Rescatame, she explained how they help the dogs on the street. Contact them and see how you can volunteer helping dogs and cats on the street of Punta Cana. A nice aspect is that they help families in need too.

Did we miss a few things that we all can do to help the environment in Punta Cana? Let us know using the #bopearthday

Picture: www.alwaght.com