Environment, community benefit from Misawa Earth Day Activities

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Zachary Kee
  • 35th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan --  The 35th Civil Engineer Squadron and Misawa City conducted several activities and cleanups to commemorate Earth Day around Misawa Air Base.

The 14th Annual Misawa Fish Port & Veedol Beach Cleanup took place April 21 and was one of several activities the base supported in honor of Earth Day. The event was designed not just to clean the area, but also to allow servicemembers and Japanese residents to work together.

More than 400 participants from the local community and Misawa Air Base collected more than 20,000 pounds of trash, which totaled three to four times the normal average, said Sasaki.

Misawa plans activities on and off base to bring both the Japanese and the base community together in service to the planet. These Earth Day activities are coordinated by Hajime Sasaki, 35 CES environmental technician.

In March, more than 450 people participated in the first Earth Day event with the 15th annual Baby Salmon Release, by stocking the Oriase River with 3 million baby salmon. The Salmon Release, like the port clean up, also had a mission of cleaning the surrounding area.

"For both of these events, there are a lot of younger children who participate," said Melvin Muraoka, 35 CES Environmental Management chief. "We try to get them involved at a young age to respect and protect our environment."

Upcoming events include the Misawa Artifacts Display and America Recycles Day, said Sasaki.

The Misawa Artifacts Display will be located in the Torii Building and will be open from May 26 to June 22. America Recycles Day is an event that brings people together to learn about recycling, said Sasaki. Held at the Exchange, the event is generally done in November before Misawa's winter hits.

"It's very important to take care of the environment because we have a limited amount of natural resources," said Muraoka. "If we don't use them properly we are going to deplete them."

Saving resources was critical for the base after Japan's March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami, said Muraoka.

For all Earth Day events, the community gets to have a good time getting to know each other while improving the environment.

"It's a win-win situation. We improve relationships and we also improve the environment at the same time," said Muraoka. "We get the bang for the buck; we get two things at once."