Jeddah gets ‘environment-friendly’

The 'Environment Friends' carnival under way in Jeddah is witnessing the participation of the city's residents dressed in their local traditional wear and engaging in folk dances and games that Jeddah’s old neighborhoods are famous for.
The carnival is held for the fifth time and is organized by the Saudi Environmental Society (SENS) and the Jeddah Mayor’s Office.
A gathering consisting of locals, in addition to 40 media persons, was present on Friday to cheer the folk bands, marine sport teams and other volunteers who carried out several performances, including traditional songs.
Participants walked 30 kms holding 300 awareness signs themed 'I love Jeddah'. The distance they covered on Friday was between the new Northern Corniche and the Border Guard command to the south.
Women's volunteer team 'Noon' participated in the event for the first time. The team includes a number of Jeddah’s young women and is headed by Um Khaled. It is one of the most prominent environmental teams that earlier cleaned about 3 km of a Jeddah street and had distributed more than 3,000 (symbolic) green cards to those Corniche visitors found to be observing the right, civilized behavior toward their city. The group aims to inculcate in the minds of all members of society the culture of protecting the environment from deterioration.
Prince Turki bin Naser, President of Metrology and Environment and chairman of the SENS, greeted and thanked the participants. The carnival has been ongoing for the past five weeks in Jeddah. He said that preserving the environment is one of the priorities of the government of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, which has enacted all needed laws and legislations for the purpose.