Over 270,000 second-level students across Ireland are taking part in the Green Schools Programme, and it's making a major difference to their wider community, writes PETER MCGUIRE
THE GREEN Schools Programme, now entering its 13th year, is an international educational programme aimed at transforming both attitudes and behaviour towards the environment. Through it, young people are driving forward initiatives on litter, waste, water and travel. Successful schools are awarded a Green Flag in recognition of their efforts.
Anna Kavanagh, a geography teacher at St Joseph's Convent of Mercy in Rochfortbridge, Co Westmeath, is the author of Green Schools: Meeting the Challenge of Climate Change.
“Our Green Schools committee has been led by Transition Year students since 2005, and we received our first Green Flag in 2006,” she says. “We’ve been calculating the ecological footprint of the school, which looks at our impact on all of nature’s resources. We’ve introduced recycling bins into the classrooms, carried out renovations to fit the school with energy-saving light sensors, got a compost bin, and planted over 1,000 spring bulbs.”
The school has taken an imaginative approach to environmental education. Earlier this year, it hosted two public talks on climate change with guest speakers including Dr John Sweeney, Senior Lecturer in Climatology at NUI Maynooth, and environmental activist Fr Seán McDonagh.
But one initiative stands out: TY students teaching the school’s younger pupils. Rose Carey (aged 16), selected as the winner of St Joseph’s Green School Award last year, explains: “Last year, our TY class used Powerpoint to teach the first year students what it’s all about. It’s really important to motivate the entire school and get them involved in this project.”
Eimear Noonan-Tracey (aged 16) is looking forward to what her TY class can achieve this year. “We’re going for our third flag and we’ll be focusing on water conservation and quality,” she says. “It’s about encouraging people to use water wisely, turn off taps, and be aware of pollution, such as that caused by slurry washing into rivers.” With water charges back on the political agenda – incidentally, a move Eimear supports – changing attitudes may be essential.
An Taisce estimates that participation in the Green Schools scheme has saved Ireland no less than €2m in waste, water, electricity and fuel costs. Around 500,000 litres of transport fuel will be saved this year alone, along with 3.7m units of electricity and 200m litres of drinking water.
IT’S EASY TO take part, says Cathy Baxter of Green Schools. “To be awarded their first Green Flag a school must set up an environmental management system. This is a seven-step process. The first flag focuses on litter and waste, implementing various initiatives to reduce waste and combat any litter problems they may face. On average, schools reduced their waste by over 60 per cent, with some schools operating at zero waste levels.”
Once they receive their first flag, schools move onto the next theme, energy, before tackling the areas of water and travel.
“Whenever a new theme is introduced to the school they keep working on the previous themes so the Green Schools programme becomes a way of life, or an ethos in the school,” says Baxter.
Anna Kavanagh believes that Ireland can demonstrate its commitment to tackling climate change by investing more resources in the Green Schools Programme.
“It should be put on a statutory footing nationwide,” she says. “I’m doing this because I worry that the world we leave behind won’t be habitable for our children. We can’t forget about their future.”
greenschoolsireland.org
