2008 Olympics Information

Essay Contest

"How I see future generations of Americans and Chinese working together for the environment."

By Maryam Ahson

Parents: Mazhar and Nancy, U.S. Embassy, Beijing China.

On June 1, 2008 China is banning the production and distribution of thin, plastic shopping bags. My name is Maryam Ahson, I am Chinese American and I am a USA Girl Scout living in Beijing, China. I love our environments, oceans and marine life. I am working on my Girl Scout Silver Award, a project to develop fabric shopping bags and educate people on the harmful effects of plastic on our oceans and marine life.

Plastic bags end up in the oceans either by people throwing them or the wind blowing them into waterways that end in the oceans. Plastic is 60% of ocean garbage and it kills. When there is plastic in the ocean, the marine animals, such as dolphins, fish, and sea turtles think that the plastic is food and they eat it. When they eat it, the animals feel full when they really aren’t, because the plastic fills their stomach. The animals die of starvation.

I’ll be selling fabric bags at my school’s (ISB) Spring Fair on April 19, 2008 and will use this opportunity to raise awareness on the harmful impact on plastic in our oceans and on our marine life. I have also developed two posters. One contains pictures of plastics in the environment and waterways around my home in Shunyi and additional information about the harmful effects of plastics. The other poster is a pledge that people sign to promise, "I’ll do my best to keep the oceans clean." I hope that everyone who buys a bag or learns about this problem and takes the pledge, will tell other people so that everyone American, Chinese and all other nationalities may learn about this problem and do their part to protect our oceans and the animals that live in them. With this activity, I hope to make a real difference in China and among our international community.

The money I earn from selling fabric bags will be donated to a non-profit Aquarium in Florida to help them feed, provide medicine and treatment for stray and injured marine animals. I am also asking that they display my information on plastics, so that Americans, like our Chinese and international community in Beijing, can also learn more about the problem of plastics in our oceans and waterways and their impact on marine animals.

Together, we can make a big impact on the environment. I hope that my project will help many people learn that they can make a positive difference among their own generation and for many generations to come.