The Editor, Sir:

I am appealing to Jamaicans to behave more responsibly towards the environment.

I am an 11-year-old student at the Heinz Simonitsch School in Montego Bay and I take the bus from St Ann to St James each day.

During the journey, I often see many people throwing styrofoam lunch boxes and 'scandal bags' through the windows of vehicles onto the roadsides.

I see plastic bottles and garbage on the beaches. On the hillsides, I see evidence of slash and burn activity and, many times, I see people burning garbage.

I pass bauxite installations emitting pollution and dust into the air.

The Government needs to tackle these problems with harsher penalties..

I am, etc.,

VICTORIA RANCE

Runaway Bay, St Ann