There's something in the air this spring and itis inspiring! PMB Eco-Schools all over Msunduzi have raised their hands for a healthy environment, healthy rivers and healthy communities.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Nature as teacher is the main principle behind The Center for Ecoliteracy's publication 'Smart by Nature - Schooling for Sustainability.. This requires thinking in terms of systems - one of nature's basic characteristics.
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.
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.
The Earthchild Project in Cape Town was conceived while Janna was living in an eco-village in Brazil and reading the spiritual classic 'Autobiography of a Yogi'. 'The book describes the educational ideals of the ancient Indian rishis, namely that most instruction be given outdoors in nature, and that alongside academic subjects there be equal emphasis on teaching meditation and universal spiritual principles so as to develop the consciousness and not just the intellect of the child,' Janna explained.
One outstanding example of a school dedicated to environmental awareness and action is the Imhoff Waldorf School in Kommetjie. It all began in 1997 when a small, passionate group of parents seeking education with an environmental emphasis for their children encountered the principles of Waldorf education.
Dis vir my altyd `n riem onder die hart om te sien hoeveel ons kinders omgee vir die natuurlike omgewing. Hulle besef hulle toekoms hang daarvan af. Talle skole krap deesdae kop oor hoe om te vergroen. Die Landsdiensklub van die Laerskool Paul Greyling in Vishoek het die leiding geneem en ´n Groen Forum gehou waarheen verskeie skole uitgenooi is om hulle bewarings-, herwinnings- en bewusmakingsprojekte te kom deel. Die skool wil sy gemeenskap help om omgewingsvraagstukke op te los, herwinning aan te moedig en volhoubare benutting van natuurlike hulpbronne te ondersoek.
In 2004 Sir Robert Swan lead a team to the Antarctic, supported by Coca-Cola, where over 1000 tons of waste was collected from the icy landscape. Five years later, Peninsula Beverages, the Bottler of the Coca-Cola products in the Western Cape, continues to actively support projects that help clean up our planet. PenBev have partnered with the Environmental Action Group and put their efforts behind the Our School Cares Programme, an environmental clean up programme where school children are motivated and rewarded for cleaning up their own schools and communities.
Over 200 school children from Khayalitshe collected nearly 100 bags of rubbish to transform stretches of Monwabisi Beach this weekend as part of the Our School Cares Programme. This is a Peninsula Beverages environmental initiative, in partnership with the Environmental Action Group. It is the third of eight beach and river clean ups for 2010.
Clean drinking water and sanitation facilities for thousands of schoolchildren and their immediate communities, is one of the legacies that The Coca-Cola Company, a primary sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cupâ„¢ - is bringing to South Africa.
