Zambia, Uganda, United States of America, Canada, Cameroon, Kenya and South Africa. These countries were all represented in one room to make their voices heard in the fight against climate change.

Earlier this week a report entitled Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa was launched by the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, at the CSIR International Convention Centre in Pretoria.  

There's something in the air this spring and it's inspiring! PMB Eco-Schools all over Msunduzi have raised their hands for a healthy environment, healthy rivers and healthy communities. Schools have joined hands in recycling, celebrating clean-up campaigns, arbour day tree plantings, green days, climate change youth summits, creating food gardens, landscaping and gardening projects! To hear children laughing, dancing and having fun is always an uplifting experience but to see them singing and dancing while picking up litter, planting trees and pledging to love the land and take care of our Earth is a very moving experience.

"The Earth Forum and exploration of the Charter enabled me to gain a deeper appreciation for nature, making me realise the desperate need for environmental education in vulnerable and poor communities,' said Youth Forum leader, Sofuthi Balungile (22) about his experience on the Climate Train at its first stop in Worcester.

The first inaugural Generation Earth Youth Summit on climate change will be taking place on 26 and 27 October at Thaba Ya Batswana in Johannesburg. After its launch earlier this year, Generation Earth Council's have been started around the country by the youth, for the youth, with the youth.

Sebope Primary School is located in the Sekhukhune District of Limpopo Province approximately 36 km from Burgersfort. The school is in its third year with the WESSA/WWF Eco-Schools programme in Limpopo province which is funded by De Beers.

Artwork created by our very own Cape Town youth was put up on exhibition on the 8th September at the Grand in Granger Bay. The young men whose work was exhibited are all participants in Mamelani's Youth Development Programme, Project Lungisela, which prepares young people for the transition out of state care, particularly children's homes.

Simon Alger (pictured), a second-year BSc Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Cape Town, walked away with one of two R15,000-00 Southern African Association for Energy Efficiency (SAEE) bursaries awarded at the organisations' prestigious Annual Banquet and Awards Ceremony in November 2010. The second bursary was awarded to Lisa Mniki, also a second-year student, studying Town and Regional Planning at Durban University of Technology.

The CO.ZA registrar, UniForum SA, has rolled out a computer lab and network at Delta Environmental Centre to help the educational institution use technology more efficiently in its education and outreach programmes.

An independent school situated in Blouberg, Elkanah House is committed to embracing the principles of sustainable development and has adopted an Environmental Policy to guide these endeavors. Such a commitment includes buildings that reduce any adverse environmental impacts whilst contributing to a productive and healthy environment for work, studies and leisure. Care has been taken to select the most sustainable materials available that meet a range of sustainability criteria ' renewable sources, recycled content, low embodied energy, non-toxic, and reducing pollution in manufacture.

The Eco Kids Film Initiative (EKFI) is the first festival of its kind aiming to stimulate environmental awareness in young viewers. It is also the first children's film festival and the first environmental film festival on the African continent.

Miss Earth South Africa in association with Consol is proud to officially announce its 2012 roll out campaign and plans for their tenth year anniversary. This leadership programme and initiative for young South African women is at the forefront of creating a much needed awareness, empowering and educating young women and children alike. As they celebrate ten years of greening communities across the country they have identified the Eastern Cape as a vital province for further exploration, activation and green discovery.

William Shakespeare has proven it to us countless times; theatre is a great way of teaching a community to bring about change. Ten high school learners from Walmer Township near Port Elizabeth have helped develop a play that illustrates the dangers of pollution using physical theatre, puppetry and improvisational theatre.

The AfriOceans Conservation Alliance (AOCA), a non-profit organisation at the forefront of marine education and shark conservation in South Africa, was delighted to announce that they have been allocated a total grant of R 5, 691 000 (five million six hundred and ninety one thousand rand) from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF). The funding has been granted for their exciting and innovative AfriOceans Warriors Environmental Education Programme.

My journey with BlueBuck Network started like any exciting American teenage movie would. With a road trip. On 14 July I travelled up to Rhodes University in Grahamstown with EcoMaties for the Youth Environmental Summit, stopping at all the relevant places ' Wilderness, Storms River and Nanaga Deli near Port Elizabeth.

My journey with BlueBuck Network started like any exciting American teenage movie would. With a road trip. On 14 July I travelled up to Rhodes University in Grahamstown with EcoMaties for the Youth Environmental Summit, stopping at all the relevant places ' Wilderness, Storms River and Nanaga Deli near Port Elizabeth. My excitement for the summit, organised by the BlueBuck Network, grew as I chatted with the inspirational Stellenbosch students on the bus. These were my kind of people. Young people who are proactive and ready for change.

South Africa's youth gathered at the summit to connect to like-minded young people and to create a support system for their different social and environmental projects via the BlueBuck Network. The bulk of the attendees were students from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town, Rhodes University and the University of Swaziland.

The opening speech, conducted by Dr Saleem Badat, vice-chancellor of Rhodes University, reminded us that the struggles for social justice and sustainability are inextricably linked. He encouraged youth to refuse to accept the converse logic of inequality.

Students are reluctant to stand up

'What concerns me is the apathy of students and their reluctance to stand up for their generation. The youth has always been forthright and energetic, yet now they are represented by the voices of the politics of the past. We need to reignite a voice of the youth that extends to all, not only the privileged.' He added: 'The violence we do to nature is not unconnected to the violence we do to fellow human beings.It's great to see young people come together who are deeply concerned about the interaction between humans and nature.'

He mentioned the fourfold development problem South Africa faces. 'How do we pursue economic development with social equality? And how do we do that in an environmentally sustainable way and within a democratic framework? It has to be done together. Economic growth in itself doesn't lead to greater justice. Human freedom should be the aim of development, not industrial advancement.'

According to Badat we tend to view the social and political structures that are currently in place as god-given, as if it has been there forever. 'The structures are unnatural; they have been produced and reproduced by our own hands. It is all within our power and can be changed by our hands. The current structures lead to a huge deprivation for a large majority, usually the poor, and are hugely beneficial for a minority, usually the rich.'

SA one of most unequal in the world

He says South Africa, Botswana and Brazil are competing to be the most unequal country in the world. '20% of South Africans take home 72.5% of SA's income and another 20% earn only 1.7% of SA's income, living on less than R8 a day.'

'Many Africans have daily routines of survival,but on the other side greed is 'cool'. Everyone has the right to have their dignities protected. Service delivery protests are ways in which people are in fact protesting their dignity. As long as everyone's not equal, we can't claim to live in a free society.'

'What will we leave behind? The degradation of our environment and resources in the name of 'progress'? Environmental devastation ultimately feeds wealth and privilege. You must be bold and create a just society that will advance human dignity,' he exclaimed.

Badat left us with a quote by Arundhati Roy, the author of The God of Small Things: 'The only dream worth having is to dream that you will live while you're alive, and die only when you're dead. To love, to be loved.To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places.To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated and to never complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.'

On Saturday morning Dr Tony Ribbink, Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Seas Trust addressed us on the power of ripples of change. 'We need to stand for what is right. Each of us can work on one portion and it will have a ripple effect. If you send out a ripple, it starts a wave and spreads resistance.'

The 'people time'

According to Ribbink we are now in the Anthropocene age, aka the people time,which dates back to the 1800s. 'There are 3 people born every second. 2.8 tons of fish is taken out of the sea every second. 90% of our larger fish are gone, and we are moving towards catching the smaller species.What people are doing now has an effect on the environment.'

Ribbink explained that in East Africa some people were so traumatised by poverty that trainers have found it impossible to train and empower them with skills. He believes the world doesn't take poverty as seriously as they should, especially not on a grassroots level. 'The best brains in the world should come together with those who know poverty to find solutions. We can't solve poverty by throwing money at the poor.'

In rural coastal villages money was offered to residents to stop fishing, but it took their jobs and self-worth away and didn't solve any sustainability problems. These coastal communities are usually overlooked, and they have to fish to survive.

'Millions are dependent on natural resources which are declining. This is scary for the impoverished. People from the coastal communities are already endangering their lives to get closer to the fish. They are now also competing among each other for limited resources.'

The shackles of unsustainable survival

'Make harsh decisions about your career paths. Let the altruistic part of you do the real thing,' Ribbink advised us. 'Influence your peers, parents, government and businesses ' beginning on your campuses. Fight for the rights of people. Unshackle them from unsustainable survival.'

Next up was Professor Heila Lotz-Sisitka, the Murray & Roberts chair of Environmental Education and Sustainability at Rhodes University. She referred to the global situation as being at a tipping point. 'It can either tip into a dismal space or we can grab the opportunity to be creative. There are 291 million people in the 14 SADC countries. That is the same number of people as the United States, which means we have the power of people.' According to Lotz there is a disconnection in our minds concerning the environment. 'We think we can learn and live outside our environment. But are buildings and classes not part of nature?'

She addressed the worldwide problem called the quadruple squeeze which includes the climate change dilemma, 60% loss of our ecosystems, surprises in weather patterns and the 20/80 inequality dilemma. '20% of the world use 80% of our world's resources. We allowed that to happen, in fact, we are promoting it. We aren't thinking of the rest of the world. The majority is living in poverty.'
Quadruple squeeze is a polycrisis

She refers to the squeeze as a polycrisis, because these issues interact with each other. 'This is a very creative moment for humanity. Human beings are a very adaptable species; we should simply be willing to act differently.'

Lawrence Sisitka, a freelance consultant from the Environmental Research and Learning Centre at Rhodes University, suggested that we simplify things to manageable scales. 'As activists, you are going to be under attack. How do you deal with this? You don't only need to be passionate, but also have the supporting evidence.'

'It's never going to be easy,' Sisitka warns, 'we'll be fighting for justice for at least the next 50 years.' According to Sisitka, environmentalists are quite individualistic. 'People find it hard to work together. We need to move from an individualistic to a collective view of society.'

We are all guilty

He held up a brass wood-screw ' an object used daily. It's made of tin and copper. Minerals that had to be mined in Africa, washed with a lot of water and smelted using a lot of energy. 'We are all in some ways guilty of the holes dug in Zambia and the copper belt. How can our screw have less of an impact?"

'There is a need to seriously reimagine development. 'Job creation in South Africa is a big issue. Is development in its current form delivering jobs? Our unemployment rate has actually gone up since 1994. Perhaps we don't need this particular form of development; it's not supporting social needs and causing environmental damage.' Sisitka believes everyone is focusing on this way of living because we just don't know any other way. 'We need to put something positive as an alternative on the table.'

'What future does a young person in Soweto see? What's the common vision?' Sisitka asked. The general reply was that a young person living in a township is probably hoping for a better life. 'Is that better life determined by wealth? Possessions? This image is perpetuated by the media, especially television. Can every person in the world live that kind of life? We are presented with a dream that is not realisable. It is actually creating poverty.' He adds: 'Poverty is a measurement of the level of quality of life. It is more profound than simply the amount of money in your pocket.'

Support the second economy

Sisitka encourages support for the second economy ' the informal street trade in which the majority of Africans partake. 'Cynics believe the capitalist system is too powerful and out of our control. It's only in the interest of a small number of people. We can take more control.'

By the end of the weekend the message was clear, we need to change our mindsets and be bold in ending social injustice. As South Africa's energetic youth we are very excited to go ahead and actively facilitate change. Click here for more about the BlueBuck Network.

By Willemien Calitz

Earthchild Project is a Cape Town based NPO with a distinct focus on the holistic development of children, teachers, schools and communities. Earthchild Project creates change that is meaningful and sustainable for these individuals and communities by providing them with the pertinent skills and means to live their lives in a more holistic, balanced and fulfilled fashion. This lifestyle makes people aware of themselves and their connection to the earth, the environment as well as their personal health and wellness.

Earthchild Project is a Cape Town based NPO with a distinct focus on the holistic development of children, teachers, schools and communities. Earthchild Project creates change that is meaningful and sustainable for these individuals and communities by providing them with the pertinent skills and means to live their lives in a more holistic, balanced and fulfilled fashion. This lifestyle makes people aware of themselves and their connection to the earth, the environment as well as their personal health and wellness.

Together with Hannah Loewenthal, Xoli Fuyani from Earthchild Project started a Young Women's group six months ago.

When speaking to Xoli about what inspired her to start the group, she said, 'Growing up in a township I knew how challenging it is for young people, especially girls. There is a lot of peer pressure. Girls fall pregnant at very early ages, they end up abusing substances and not getting the education they need, which then leads to unemployment. Another huge concern was how under sourced the girls where in terms of knowledge and exposure, most of the girls have few dreams and did not see themselves succeeding in life.'

'The more I thought about my upbringing, I realised how privileged I was. I had exposure and safe spaces around me, which contributed to the person I am today. This inspired me to initiate the group and create a safe space where the girls can fully express how they feel, be heard and get exposure to different possibilities.'

Open, free and safe

The Young Women's group creates an open, free and safe space for 12 girls between the ages of 12 and 16 where they can express themselves freely, sharing with this group their experiences and emotions. The girls were initially part of the hiking club that Earthchild Project facilitates but seeing as the girls were moving onto high school, Xoli wanted to find a way to continue working with these girls she had grown close to.

The group adopted the 5-rhythms dance movement, which is a movement practice created by Gabrielle Roth, a teacher by education who describes herself as 'A healer who writes prescriptions with her feet.'

Gabrielle Roth describes the 5 rhythms dance movement saying, 'mine is the art of inspiring people to turn themselves inside out, transform their suffering into art, their art into awareness and their awareness into action.'

This style of dancing promotes an exploration into the belief that dancing is an expression of emotion and it allows us to express our inner selves through dance and movement.

Xoli and Hannah chose this particular dance movement because they believe that 'with movement there are lot of possibilities to explore and deal with a lot of issues such as body awareness, feeling and emotions. Especially for the teenagers where there are lot of unexplained changes happening to ones body. It's quite fun to move rather than to sit and talk about what's happening inside you.'

a creative spark

Other activities include creative art sessions, which depend on the theme of the day. Themes include visions and goals, feelings and emotions, your relationship with food and body changes. An informative activity about the selected topic includes guest speakers, sharing circles and writing. The group also goes on outings outside the monthly sessions and provides skills development based on the girls' needs.

On the day I had the opportunity to join one of their sessions, the girls began by gathering in a sharing circle where the theme of the day (or month) is discussed in depth. This month, the theme happened to be feelings and emotions. Each girl began by describing what they did to 'deal with' a certain emotion and how being in the state of feeling that emotion makes them feel.

The group then started movement exercises by moving their body into a position they think describes the emotion they are feeling at that moment. A lot of people resisted expression and resisted truly showing their emotions, especially, when around other people, they might have felt like they will be judged.

resistance through movement

The girls were shown to express the feeling of resistance through movement. The shapes and forms made were very interesting, as each girl would have their own issue they were focusing on and they would therefore move according to how that issue made them feel.

Throughout the day, the girls began to understand how to express emotions through movement instead of continuing to suppress them or express something different on the outside to what they were feeling on the inside. The girls realised a connection to themselves and to their hearts.

Xoli stated that since she first started the group, she 'feels like the girls have come out of their shells. They are now more confident and eager to take charge of their lives.'

This group has inspired these girls to help others and create sustainable change in their communities.

To help Xoli and Hannah continue their work, please contact Xoli Fuyani or check out the Earthchild Project website.

By Sarah Mackenzie

Women and the youth spoke up strongly during the public hearings on the National Climate Change Response Green Paper in parliament, conducted by the Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs.

Women and the youth spoke up strongly during the public hearings on the National Climate Change Response Green Paper in parliament, conducted by the Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs.

Environmentalists, scientists, advocates, journalists, women empowerment forums, NGOs, youth forums and academics swarmed to Cape Town's parliament, all in the name of saving the planet.  A lot of critique was given and many adjustments await the green paper, but the overall cooperation in parliament was very positive.

Churches help disseminate climate change information

Bishop Geoff Davies, from SAFCEI (Southern African Faith Community's Environmental Institute) started with  a prayer before presenting his opinion with the aid of Ms Candice McDaid. 'Climate change is the greatest threat humanity has ever faced. Injustice to the climate brings injustice to our people,' the bishop said.

'No country should be allowed to carry on as they are now. The situation is alarming.' He plans an African congress and a Pan congress this year where carbon emission peaks will be explained to African communities. 'Churches will be playing a greater role in the dissemination of climate change information.'

'There is an enormous gap between the carbon emission reduction goals required by science and our current goals,' McDaid said. '1800 people died in hurricane Katrina. 35 000 people died in the heat wave that hit Europe in 2003. These are all direct impacts of climate change.'

2-3 degrees up in a hot tin shack

With regards to the expected 2-3 degrees rise in temperature in South Africa, McDaid added: 'We speak about it as if it is very easy to adapt, but where are you going to go to? If you live in a hot tin shack, what are you going to do?'

McDaid believes we can solve climate change with direct action and the necessary financing. 'South Africa is a deeply unequal society. If we can reach a consensus in the fight against climate change, we can be a role-model for other countries. Climate change is a deeply moral issue dealing with the future life on this planet.'
She showed the audience a comic of a guy looking at all the evidence for fighting climate change, saying: 'what if it's all a big hoax and we create a better world for nothing?'

We need another miracle

'There is no sense of urgency in the green paper,' McDaid said. 'During the World Cup when we had to build stadiums, there was money and it simply happened. We need direct action. Eskom shouldn't be allowed to build any more power stations. Maybe SASOL will have to close. Government has to take the uncomfortable lead of making those choices.'

'This year is the 17th time the world is coming together to discuss climate change. In 1994 South Africa was able to pull a miracle. Maybe this year will be the same for our earth?'

'We don't even have electricity,' the representative of Women's Energy and Climate Change Forum said... 'We read in your green paper about 'clean coal'. Well, bring this coal to us in the township. Show us what you are speaking about. We know you burn coal to make fire and there's a lot of smoke. It's not clean.'

Language poses a barrier to understanding

The Women's Energy and Climate Change Forum expressed their concern about the issue of language. The green paper is only available in English, and renders the other ten official languages' speakers at a disadvantage. 'How do you expect the women from the townships to give a public opinion about the green paper if we don't understand what it is saying?'

'How many women and young people have had access to this paper? We need people to come down to us and listen to us,' a member of the women's forum said. 'Our people don't know about these issues or understand them. It's like Chinese to us.'
'When people want votes, they go out and they get those votes. Why don't they use the same strategy with climate change?'

Women still need wood for cooking

Another member of the forum also complained that they didn't have electricity and had to find wood to make fire with. 'We put ourselves into dangerous situations to find that wood. We are the most affected by climate change. It is the cause of most of the challenges we are facing.' She added: 'Mosquitoes are killing our residents due to climate change. It is the women who are swept away by the streams with babies on our backs.'

'Let the message of climate change reach every woman in the country. These women will be able to come up with ideas of how to help the earth.'

Theatre to create awareness

The representatives of Water and Environmental Affairs will be using industrial theatre, pictures and music to create awareness and educate South Africans about climate change this year. They said the women's forum has reminded them that there are basic issues most people in our country are facing, and those issues should not be forgotten.

'We cannot wait for great visions from great people for they are in short supply. We must light our own fires in the darkness.'

According to the Youth in Climate Change Forum, the information in the Green Paper  is outdated. 'The issue is now more severe and South Africa should invest more in research and technology.'

Children born with defects from mine pollution

One of the extreme cases illustrated in the youth forum's presentation, is that of children born with defects because of polluted water in the Kempton Park area. The members of parliament were not aware that mines were making this area's water so toxic that it has already affected the next generation.

'We demand maximum awareness and education around climate change,' said Mr Kabelo Radebe, one of the Youth in Climate Change Forum's representatives. 'We should be speeding up South Africa's goals and properly implement adaptation on all levels of society.'

'Renewables will save the planet,' said the Youth in Climate Change Forum. 'Nuclear plants will destroy South Africa's agriculture.'

Biodigesters for energy

In Uruguay the use of digesters -using human faeces to create energy has proven successful and economical.'We should focus our attention on real alternatives, such as biogas. Why don't we try and put a digester in every single house?'
The Youth in Climate Change Forum expressed their grave concern that climate change issues have not reached mainstream media yet. 'Why are you not informing people fast enough?'

Micro-farming helps the community in more than one way.
The Youth and Cultural Ambassadors, who are responsible for projects involving the youth in organic farming, were concerned about section five in the green paper, concerning the policy on genetically modified crops. 'GM crops exacerbate climate change. They need harmful pesticides. The youth ambassadors believe in urban and rural farming without fossil fuels.' The ambassadors are adamant about the need for better technology in the agricultural sector.

Youth want organic micro-farming

'We must take a hands-on approach. The solution lies in redesigning our food production and consumption systems. In the end we waste half of the food we produce. We should support micro-farming, and the youth plays a big role in this.'
These ambassadors are currently training 1000 kids and plan to hire 500 more before the end of the year to do training in micro-farming. 'We need support from the government. Not only are we supporting organic farming, we are also taking teenagers off the streets and helping the community.'

Both the Youth in Climate Change Forum and the Youth and Cultural Ambassadors suggested the implementation of one food garden per household, one per church and one per school within the next 20 years. 'We want our communities to be clean.'

The advocate applauds SA's youth

Advocate JH de Lange who is in charge of the response to the green paper, applauded the youth for making excellent suggestions and for speaking up.

'At COP 17 South Africa has to showcase its own awareness, and the youth are very vocal about these issues. We have to realise the future is theirs and they are preparing for big impacts of climate change.' He said that the climate has already changed dramatically since he was a young man.

'The older people in any community will tell you how much things have changed. We should be empowering people to take control of their own areas.'

The final responses have been discussed this week and another draft of the green paper will be drawn up. The South African government is actively getting involved in environmental issues and hopefully the first Conference of Parties in Africa will be the first one where negotiations are successfully made.

What happens to fish if you throw empty plastic bags in a river? Why is it wrong to litter? How many different types of plants exist in my community, and which ones can I plant to provide me with food?

What happens to fish if you throw empty plastic bags in a river? Why is it wrong to litter? How many different types of plants exist in my community, and which ones can I plant to provide me with food?

These are some of the questions WESSA (the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa), a nationwide NGO that pro-actively engages with the challenges and opportunities presented by South Africa's unique natural heritage, is addressing with its Environmental Education (EE) programme for primary school learners across KwaZulu-Natal(KZN).
 
Through its mission of 'promoting public participation in caring for the earth', WESSA utilises its four EE Centres, located across the province, to teach and encourage learners from under-resourced schools to take action for a healthy environment.

Grant Trebble, WESSA KZN regional manager, explains: 'WESSA oversees and coordinates the transportation of learners to the EE Centres from rural and disadvantaged communities and schools across KZN. There we teach them about issues such as water management, recycling and how to live sustainably by reducing water and energy consumption. They also learn about alternative energy sources, our country's rich biodiversity and how to conserve it.'

Spreading the good word

In addition, learners return home with course material, ensuring WESSA's vital messages are communicated with other members of the family as well as the community at large. Another component of the EE programme is an outreach initiative, which sees WESSA volunteers visiting schools and involving children in various activities including the harvesting of water, food gardens and the use of solar cookers.

Being reliant solely on public donations for much of its work, WESSA experiences difficulty in transporting as many learners as it would like to the various EE Centres. However, the MySchool MyPlanet MyVillage fundraising programme recently signed up WESSA as a MyPlanet beneficiary, enabling cardholders to easily contribute by simply swiping their cards when they go shopping.

MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet is a fundraising initiative, which through collaborations with leading retailers, facilitates the donations of funds to over 10 000 beneficiaries nationwide. Each time a MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet card is swiped at a participating retailer, up to 10% of the overall purchase total will be donated to your beneficiary of choice at no cost to you. It's the easiest way to contribute to your favourite cause.

Making it happen

Funds received by WESSA from MySchool are used to fund the transport of children from their communities to the EE Centres, as well as their accommodation, food, course material and the educators.

'Often people want to make a difference, but they don't know how. This is the ideal way for the public to establish and grow the awareness of environmental issues in the mind of a child who would otherwise never have access to it,' says Pieter Twine, MySchool general manager.

To find out more about the MySchool programme, how to select WESSA as a beneficiary and a list of all participating retailers visit www.myschool.co.za For more information about WESSA and its Environmental Educational programmes visit www.WESSA.org.

In SA, the greening of schools has been a gradual process. One initiative that seeks to change this is the WESSA/WWF Eco-Schools Programme, an environmental education programme that offers sustained engagement between schools and environmental agencies, and continuously awards schools for their efforts.

In SA, the greening of schools has been a gradual process. One initiative that seeks to change this is the WESSA/WWF Eco-Schools Programme, an environmental education programme that offers sustained engagement between schools and environmental agencies, and continuously awards schools for their efforts.

Schools are assessed within their capacity and international flags have been awarded to both under- and well-resourced schools in rural and urban areas - who demonstrate positive environmental and social change - across the country.

The programme is regarded as a flagship, and one of the most effective environmental education programmes in South Africa to date. Overseas, however, the schools are being greened up at quite a pace.

Weaving diversity & globalism

Head-Royce, an independent K-12 school in Oakland, California, has long been a leader in integrating new educational themes.
For example, the faculty spent one year focused on weaving diversity into the curriculum. The next year, they did the same with globalism. And the following year, they integrated sustainability into every grade level and subject matter in this school of nearly 1,000 students, faculty, and staff.

For a faculty unaccustomed to resting on its laurels, this raised an inevitable question: What next?

For Crystal Land, assistant head of school and academic dean, the answer was: Bring it all together.

"We wanted to see if there was a way to show that these efforts were not just about creating new units and being done with it, but understanding how all the themes can come together and make really meaningful education for twenty-first-century learners," says Land.

During the 2009-2010 school year, Head-Royce faculty consulted with Carolie Sly, director of education programs at the Center for Ecoliteracy, and designed new "mission integration" projects throughout the curriculum.

In the lower school, for example, a project that once called on students to design a dream house became something of a very different order. Working together, classroom and language teachers charged students with designing sustainable and affordable homes for families in Peru, Haiti, Quebec, and Morocco. Fifth graders taking Spanish had to design homes in terrain ranging from the slums of Lima to the Amazon Rainforest and the mountains around Machu Picchu.

But first they wrote about the families, enabling them to imagine the life of a single 45-year-old mother of four who made $40,000 a year as a seamstress and needed a home. Teachers also brought in photographs (including some they had taken themselves during summer travels) of different kinds of houses and of tools relied on by inhabitants of these areas, such as cisterns for water.

the practical side

Next came the challenge of choosing building materials — a task that required students to analyze a spreadsheet that identified the costs of supplies, from local trees and rubble to the finest lumber.

"We came up with the numbers off the top of our heads," says fifth-grade teacher Ben Ladue. But with the cost of natural wood clearly cheaper for people who lived in a forest than for those who lived in the desert, even the hypothetical costs reflected the basic idea that it frequently makes more sense to use materials that are native to one's area.

Students were then asked to develop blueprints, followed by 3-D models — with one unbendable rule, notes Ladue: "You can't buy anything." They were encouraged to go out into the school garden to find sticks and leaves and figure out how to make dirt stick together.

creative solutions

"Looking back, what stood out for me," says Ladue, "was that at first I'd thought, 'Oh my God, we're going to have to put out so many fires as we go,' because we knew that if the wood costs this much, and they had to buy that much, and the families' salaries were not even close, we'd have problems." But the kids thought creatively, coming up with solutions the teachers hadn't anticipated, such as making 2x4s from trees that had already been cut down.

As student Sawyer Thompson recalls, "This project was challenging because I had to use a budget and meet it — and I really made use of my imagination."

In other lower-school classrooms, kindergartners studied wood and how the principles of sustainability apply to it. First graders interviewed astronomers, medical professionals, and environmentalists to understand how their work can create a closer, more diverse, and sustainable community. And second graders wrote to Indonesian children to learn about how they used water in gardening, bathing, and drinking, and how their waterways compared to Oakland's.

solving environmental problems

In middle-school classrooms, sixth graders researched and reported on the steps various countries and cultures have taken to solve environmental problems. Seventh graders studied food, relying on resources that included the Center for Ecoliteracy's discussion guide to the film Food, Inc. And eighth graders were introduced to a new unit on climate change and held a mock international climate summit in which they sought consensus on policies they could implement to reduce carbon emissions.

In upper-school classrooms, Asian studies teacher Saya McKenna and comparative politics teacher Karen Bradley collaborated on a project that examined the local impact of U.S.-China trade policies. Students watched Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff, discussed the environmental impacts of consumption, and visited a waste transfer station to see what eventually happens to all our stuff. Eleventh graders compared the fate of Easter Island, where the population collapsed after overreaching the limits of sustainability, to that of Tikopia, where people faced the same challenges but saved themselves by such means as limiting population growth and adopting sustainable agriculture practices.

Reflecting on the explosion of teaching and learning that interwove diversity, globalism, and sustainability throughout the school's K-12 curriculum, Crystal Land observes that the very idea of integration proved to be a welcome one for teachers:

 "There was much greater buy-in from teachers when the focus was on integration rather than the usual, `Oh, what's it going to be this year?'"

Source

Please click here for more info about WESSA/WWF's local Eco-Schools Programme

The GPS diligently led me through shacks and narrow tar-less streets to an incorrect location. Temperatures already climbed into the thirties at 8am in the morning. I back tracked a bit and passed a young girl with her books under her arm and a bright blue t-shirt on.

Phindile Mangwana, a UWC Environmental and Water Sciences graduate on a two-year Table Mountain Fund (TMF) internship programme at WESSA Western Cape, has won a prize for his Khayelitsha Environmental Education Programme (KEEP) and has been selected to join the 2010 Bayer Young Environmental Envoy Programme.

On World Environment Day Project 90 took seven of their Western Cape school clubs on an outing to Goedgedacht Farm near Malmesbury. Fifty learners from seven schools joined us for a day of fun in the sun.

In a first for Nelson Mandela Bay, environmental education has been included in the curriculum of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) Business School through a partnership with the Wilderness Foundation of Southern Africa.

This year the Our School Cares awards programme, sponsored by Peninsula Beverages (PenBev), is being expanded to include the recycling of particularly beverage containers, such as cans and PET bottles. This environmental education based programme now enables more schools to compete for the awards, whilst raising their level of awareness of and participation in recycling at school level. PenBev plans no less than 8 beach and river clean-ups this year.

Boland schools worked hard and won most of the top prizes in the yearly Our Schools Cares/Adopt-a-Spot competition, sponsored by Peninsula Beverages. Bloemhof Girls' High from Stellenbosch came first in the senior school section and received R8000 from the sponsors.

A state-of-the-art, eco-friendly library at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University's Missionvale Campus near Port Elizabeth will be completed soon, setting a new benchmark. Emphasis has been placed on the library's air-conditioning and lighting systems as they account for most of the energy consumption in the library.

A thousand students in green overalls, cheekily called the green police, raised awareness on campus during their recent Green Week. Known as the Green Campus Initiative, they are the biggest and fastest-growing society at UCT ' started in 2007.This year they received R2000 in funding from the university, which seems incomprehensibly meagre.

Children from various schools around the Cape Peninsula demonstrated their global commitment to sustainable packaging, water stewardship and ocean conservation when they gathered to pick up litter at Strandfontein Beach on Saturday, 12 September 2009. It was part of the 24th annual International Coastal Clean Up (ICC) which takes place globally on 19 September.

'Growing flowers was not going to cut the biscuit ' whereas growing food would be a skill for life.' Tim Ramsden teaches vegetable gardening to special-needs children at the Khanyisa School for upportive Education in Cape Town.