Machel Montano Promotes Environmental Initiative in Belize
Soca superstar Machel Montano is using his influence to move more than crowds. After electrifying the stage in Belize, Montano is throwing his support behind the global Save Soil movement, promoting healthier soils and more tree planting. Prime Minister John Briceño hopes the star power will connect with younger Belizeans and help drive the government’s ambitious plan to plant one million trees.
Machel Montano
Machel Montano, Artist
“We here again, coming back to beautiful Belize. Rich in flora and fauna and culture. Um, we representing the Save Soil movement along with Sadhguru, who’s a visionary and mystic, who started this movement to bring back the health of soils around the world. 52% of soils have been degraded by slashing and burning and of course leaving the soil exposed to heat that kills the biodiversity in the soil. And we wanna encourage everybody to put- life back into these soils so we could have, you know, nutritious foods coming out of it. We could help farmers with their livelihood. We could avoid flooding by having rich soil that absorbs water. We could help with the climate change situation by sequestering more carbon dioxide. More carbon, right. You know and most importantly, encourage planting trees, which is in sync with your initiative.”
Prime Minister John Briceño
“Precisely, we are pushing to plant one million trees. And the plan is to be able to plant more than that, but you know, instead of the a million tree drive. And we’ll be doing it all across the country. Yeah. And not only in the forest, but also in backyards, in the parks, and all over. So I want to commend you because, you know, we think about you about just music and soca and the dancehall and whatnot. But for you to think about the planet, you know? And I think that, um, it’s quite admirable because you speak to young people. For sure. You know? Not so much to me. But more to the younger guys.”
Following a tree planting ceremony, Prime Minister Briceno invited Machel Montano and his team for panades and drinks at his house.
Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.