For almost 25 years, the Center for Research on Coastal Ecosystems (CIEC) has exceeded the limits of the Jardines del Rey archipelago —a space where it establishes itself as a guarantor of environmental protection and sustainable development— to bring environmental education to communities in the municipality of Morón, in the center‒north of the province of Ciego de Ávila.

Yudisley Ramírez Rojas —or Yuyita, as she is known and she is identified even in her profile on the social network Facebook—, responsible for environmental education, specified that the Environmental Group "Living Ecosystem" was founded on March 31, 1998, in starting from a comprehensive diagnosis on the situation of the environment in the territory of Morón.

They began with 25 pioneers who were in the fifth and sixth grades in primary schools in the so-called Rooster City, later students from other educational levels and local institutions joined and, during the work in the neighborhoods, members of the working groups have been incorporated community and citizens motivated by the project.

Currently, the governing group, led by Yuyita, remains with 25 students from different levels of education, encouraged by the desire to build capacities and mobilize local actors and community factors in order to preserve nature.

In favor of health and public beautification, they lead sanitization days in different neighborhoods and communities, where they join forces for the elimination of micro-dumps, some converted into spaces where life proliferates as they are used for growing food, medicinal plants, trees timber and fruit.

The union with the people of the neighborhood not only allows them to multiply forces, but also to identify polluting sources, landfills and training needs to learn to live in harmony with nature.

There, they carry out preparations on issues related to the importance of care and conservation of the environment, and then carry out practical actions on the ground, which include actions to restore the ecological balance in affected areas and the placement of posters with messages of public good, according to Yuyita.

They interact with forms of non-state management whose corporate purpose is linked to environmental activities, such as the local development projects (PDL) Arcoiris and Parque Humedal Grande, and a small company that promotes the cultivation of moringa oleífera.

Close to celebrate a new anniversary of its establishment and on the threshold of the year 2023, "Living Ecosystem" intends to be inserted in the actions for the improvement of the educational sector in Morón, through work with the school-family-community triad, with proposals also aimed at training parents.

Ramírez Rojas assured that the stage that is beginning is another opportunity to add people and organizations, which is vital to reverse environmental damage and threats facing the planet, such as climate change, floods, indiscriminate logging and pruning, fires forests and the extinction of flora and fauna species.

She considers that environmental education plays an essential role for the knowledge, learning and modeling of behaviors and actions that favor the environment.

Isabel Moreno, ninth grade students at the Roberto Rodríguez Fernández Urban Basic Secondary School, appreciated in "Live Ecosystem" the possibility of acquiring knowledge to protect the environment, in addition to providing tools to transmit this knowledge to fellow students and inhabitants of your community.

Lucy Mary Ortiz Griñán and Talía Sierra Carvajal, sixth grade students, thank the aforementioned environmental group for most of the knowledge they have about natural resources and their conservation, as well as the opportunity to learn about the work and exchange with CIEC specialists whose work is very interesting to them.

Deserving of the September 28 Distinction, granted by the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, and recognitions from the Municipal Assembly of People's Power and the Territorial Delegation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, "Living Ecosystem" is a guarantee to promote social and spiritual transformations in the communities of Morón.