Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Preserving the Wetlands


With all of Mother Nature's dramatic upheavals recently--earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis--this Earth Day seems like a good time to contemplate our role as caretakers of this beautiful planet we inhabit.
The Flamingo Beach Resort & Spa is celebrating Earth Day on April 22nd with a series of activities designed to bring us closer to Nature and learn more about how we can help reduce the waste and contamination of its precious resources. We will be planting trees, guiding tours in the protected mangroves adjacent to the resort property (photo-left), making candles so we can turn off electric lights, and creating delicious meals and drinks from local, fresh ingredients. All of these things and many more efforts to promote environmental sustainability are actually done regularly at the resort; we are just drawing more attention to them and making them more inclusive on this special day. At all times, trash is recycled, efforts are made to reduce the amount of daily laundry, lights are turned off and air-conditioning temperatures are adjusted, natural, biodegradable cleaning products are used, beach clean-ups are organized, and organic, local foods are sought out for Arenas' Restaurant menus.
Recently, the resort ownership arranged to host graduate students from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University to conduct a scientific study on how to revive and preserve the health of the mangrove wetlands which run through the center of Playa Flamingo, creating a much-needed shelter for a wide variety of birds and other wildlife. By promoting the conservation of this large undeveloped tract of land and helping to restore the natural flow of salt water into the preserve, the Flamingo Beach Resort & Spa ownership and employees are working to maintain the natural beauty of Playa Flamingo for generations to come.