Vision

The students wanted to make some changes at our school in order to help reduce the effects of climate change. Since we live on an island, rising sea levels are a real threat. The students wanted our school community to do better with litter and unsorted garbage and wanted to plant some trees and plants to help reduce greenhouse gases.

Action

The students organized a schoolyard cleanup and involved all of the students and staff in this. They collected 26 large bags of garbage and sorted what they could. They then planted fruit trees and worked on plants in the greenhouse and then prepared the outside beds for transplanting. The next move was to have the students and staff separate out the recycled paper and in their first week they collected 10kg of paper. The subsequent weeks were getting similar yields of paper. They then built composters and got the students to compost their food waste and such. All along, they were making information posters explaining the route to change and why change is important.

Reflection & Celebration

The students were quite pleased that they were able to change the behaviours and habits of their peers. Being grade 7s in a 7-9 school, it was nice for them to have an impact on older students and adults in the school community. They set small goals and achieved these before moving on.

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