Eco-Schools Latvia Summer Forum 2018

The Eco-Schools Summer Forum in Latvia has become a strong tradition and it is the most anticipated event among the participants of the programme. This was Latvia's 8th Summer Forum and it lasted for a total of 6 days with activities tailored for teachers and students.

The first part of the event gathered 120 teachers from 70 Eco-Schools in Latvia. It was an opportunity to learn the latest news regarding Eco-Schools, get ready for the upcoming school-year and talk about current environmental challenges. Themes of the seminars included: climate change, biodiversity, responsible food consumption, outdoor education, environmental education and competence-based learning, students support and motivation. Practical workshops were held for teachers to learn new useful skills for a greener lifestyle. Moreover, the Forum was an opportunity to meet fellow activists and to strengthen the collaboration among Eco-Schools in Latvia. At the end of the event, a public waste monitoring session was organised on a beach near the venue in order to gather information on coastal pollution and to urge communities to volunteer at the coastal cleanup campaign, which will take place in September.

Over a hundred young people between 14 and 18 years old participated in the second part of the Eco-Schools Summer Forum. The four-day programme was developed to deepen students’ knowledge of current environmental issues, to spark new ideas for environmental activities and to add to students’ know-how for organising such activities. Working in groups and team-building activities promoted the formation of a network of young environmental activists and new friendships among Eco-Schools in Latvia.

In order to minimise the environmental impact of the event, no disposable plates, cups or cutlery were used during the Forum. The participants were asked to reduce the amount of any waste to a minimum and to use energy and water resources responsibly. Considering the negative effects of industrial farming on the environment, the amount of animal products in the catering was considerably reduced. Recycled hygiene paper products and environmentally friendly household cleaning supplies were provided for the participants.

• Story provided by FEE Latvia

Second Regional Network in Eco-Schools: UK & Ireland come together for closer collaboration

On 21-22 August, Eco-Schools National Operators from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland came together in Wigan, UK, to share experiences, discuss processes and find ways to further collaborate. The meeting was a first step towards forming an Eco-Schools UK & Ireland regional network - the second one in our programme after the formation of the Eco-Schools African Network in November 2017.

Lee Wray-Davies, Karyn Fullerton and Francis Hyland coordinated the meeting at Keep Britain Tidy's headquarters in Wigan, Greater Manchester. Keep Scotland Beautiful, Keep Wales Tidy, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and An Taisce were represented by Anne-Marie Robb, Matthew Bunt, Ruth Van Ry and Birgit O'Driscoll respectively. FEE Head Office was represented by Nicole Andreou, International Eco-Schools Coordinator, and discussions on FEE EcoCampus were led by Deirdre O'Carroll from An Taisce, Ireland.

The team had the chance to go through best practices, a review of resources available, ideas on collaborations and the Green Flag assessment process in each setting. On the second day of the meeting, Anne-Marie Robb held a workshop on the Sustainable Development Goals and how countries can best showcase them in their work. Deirdre O'Carroll introduced the FEE EcoCampus programme and its implementation in Ireland to inspire its further expansion and development in the rest of the nations. It is worth mentioning that Eco-Schools England and Eco-Schools Northern Ireland have recently launched the programme.

Discussions around the Marine Theme and calls to action against plastic pollution also took place. The meeting concluded with sharing best practice and exploring possibilities around the FEE Litter Less Campaign and the implementation of Eco-Schools' sister programme, Young Reporters for the Environment.

The first UK & Ireland National Operators meeting has been a truly fruitful one for all participants, who will keep exploring ways to work closer together and learn from each other's successes as well as challenges. 

PHOTO GALLERY

The first awarded Eco-Schools in the world

It is truly a family affair at Downpatrick Nursery School in Northern Ireland (NI). This year marked a landmark moment for Eco-Schools when Downpatrick Nursery School, the first school in the world to be awarded an Eco-Schools Green Flag in 1994, became the first school in NI to be awarded its 10th Green Flag, making it a national leader in sustainable education.

Three generations of the Rutledge family, who have been involved at the school from the start, celebrated the moment. Catherine Rutledge parent to Alan, pupil at the time of the first flag, has worked at the school for a further 8 flags and Eboni, Alan’s daughter, is a current pupil.  

 

 

"I had no idea all those years ago that we were the first school in the world to achieve this award!"

“I was excited when the information about the first ever Eco-Schools Award Scheme arrived in the Nursery School in 1994. I was always very interested in environmental issues and encouraged the children to take an interest in wildlife and nature. I had no idea all those years ago that we were the first school in the world to achieve this award! I am so delighted that the Nursery School has not only maintained this eco-friendly ethos but strengthened and developed it to win their 10th Eco-School Award after 24 years”.  Kelsie Erskine, Former Principal of Downpatrick Nursery School

 

 

 

"The 'green' theme has become an integral part of our school life"

Today the high standards are still being honoured and children are actively encouraged to promote environmental ideas and action plans to benefit not only the school but also the wider community.

"We are pleased to see that our parents and the local community all enjoy celebrating our success as an Eco-School and they actively embrace and support all the topics and initiatives that we promote. We aim to continue to find new ways of collaborating with other local schools of all ages in combined Eco-Schools projects."  Lorna Burns, current Principal at the school

• Story and pictures provided by Keep Northern Island Beautiful

Joint efforts to protect Bahamas marine heritage

On 17 July, the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) celebrated the ending af an impactful six-day Marine Conservation Workshop with a closing ceremony at the Coral Harbour Base. The event shows the commitment of the Government of the Bahamas to protecting its limited naturaI resources.

The Minister of National Security also attended the initiative and highlighted the growing initiatives the Force has been assisting with, since the formation of its Environmental Conservation Office in 2017.  BREEF Executive Director, Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, expressed her satisfaction for the partnership with the RBDF to promote the conservation of marine environment.

"Knowledge is power and we now have an interdisciplinary group of workshop participants from law enforcement and education who are empowered to share this information that they have gained with their colleagues and students, and bring about change. Everyone has a role to play in sustaining our oceans." 

Casuarina McKinney-Lambert

The primary focus of the workshop has been to help members of the Defence Force and fellow law enforcement officers understand marine environment, the laws that govern it and the science behind the policies to better implement enforcement strategies. Partnerships and coordinated approaches are essential to increase effectiveness and reduce duplication of efforts. Law enforcement personnel and educators were selected across a range of the public service and secondary schools from around the country. 

The interdisciplinary course provided participants with opportunities to study island ecosystems from a hands-on, systems perspective within a week-long residential field-study programme at the RBDF Base. Participants took part in classroom activities, guest lectures, and field studies to nearby marine protected areas including Bonefish Pond National Park and the South West Marine Managed Area. 

"This workshop was truly an eye opener for me and brought greater awareness of our marine life and the challenges we face with enforcement, not only locally but internationally. I was open and excited to absorb all that I could in the workshop." 

RBDF Able Woman Marine Aniska Bonaby

BREEF is the nonprofit organisation accredited to implement the Eco-Schools programme in the Bahamas. It has been conducting marine conservation teacher training workshops since 1995. In 2017 BREEF met the goal of having at least one BREEF-trained teacher in every school across the expanse of the Bahamas.

• Story provided by BREEF

Online Certificate on Education for Sustainable Development

The Earth Charter Initiative is a global movement of organizations and individuals that embrace the Earth Charter and use it to guide the transition towards a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world.

The Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development and University for Peace are offering an International Professional Development Programme on Education for Sustainable Development. This 5-month long course is an excellent opportunity for Eco-Schools Coordinators, teachers and everybody working in the field of Education.

Programme Objectives

This unique programme seeks to strengthen the capacities of educators to integrate the values of sustainability in their areas of action and develop educational programmes that promote a new awareness towards the environment and sustainable lifestyles.  Through the programme, educators would improve their skills to implement Education for Global Citizenship in their work, providing a space for dialogue and a professional update on pedagogical processes of transformative learning that respond to the new guidance and educational needs in this area. The programme will also offer a special space to look into the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Participants Profile

The Certificate Programme is aimed at K-12 teachers (primary and secondary educators), education professionals, and academics in different areas and levels of education.

Dates: 16 January - 19 June 2019

Register at: http://earthcharter.org/events/online-certificate-education-sustainable-development-2019

More information:  apply@earthcharter.org

Teach on the beach!

• Story provided by FEE Norway

On 8 June, to mark the occasion of World Oceans Day, the students of the British International School of Stavanger in Norway attended class on the beach.

The students organised a great beach clean-up, followed by reflections and an analysis of what they found. They shared great knowledge when discussing different topics including plastic pollution, bioaccumulation and micro-plastic in everyday consumables.

The pupils also wrote poems about the sea, learned about the tides and listened to the sounds of different species under the water. The school arranged a drawing competition in line with World Oceans Day, where the winner would get his/her drawing on the school's World Oceans Day t-shirts.

The students had an exciting and educational day about the sea and everything that lives there. We encourage other schools and kindergartens around the world to do the same!

WWF-Thailand announces Eco-Schools 2018

• Press release by WWF-Thailand

Thai schools reached the global standard for environmental education.

WWF-Thailand announced the list of Thai schools reaching the global standard for effective environmental education under Eco-Schools Program with aim to create sustainable environment through youth learning

WWF-Thailand, together with the partner, IKEA Thailand, hosted Eco-Schools Award granting ceremony and presented the prizes to the schools operating 2018 Global Environmental Education. This year, there are 3 schools, recognized for excellence in environmental education, receiving the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award including Klongratumratutit School, Rattanakosin Sompotch Bang Khen School, and Ritthinarongron School amongst 21 schools nationwide that have joined the programme.

Mr Gordon Congdon, Conservation Program Manager of WWF-Thailand, stated about the success of Eco-Schools: “This is the second year that WWF-Thailand represents the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) to operate Eco-Schools programme in Thailand. And this year, there are 3 schools recognized for excellence in environmental education and receiving the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award, which shows their progress in environmental management. Most of all, the students leading the program can also practice project management skill to prepare to be responsible and protect our world’s natural resources and environment in the future. We have to say thank you to Office of the Private Education Commission (OPEC) for credible judgment and we want to express our gratitude to IKEA for the continue support, giving children a chance for joining Eco-Schools programme”.

Mr Lars Svensson, Sustainability & Communication Director, IKEA Southeast Asia, stated: “Apart from the schools receiving the Eco-Schools Green Flag Award, it is a pleasure that many other schools were also recognized the Silver Award and Bronze Award, reflecting their potential in environmental education. We are proud to support Eco-Schools program for the second year, following IKEA’s goal encouraging sustainable consumption and environmental responsibility”.

Ms Sutthawee Laowkae, a student from Rattanakosin Sompotch Bang Khen School, which was recognized to achieve Green Flag Award said: “At first, it was not easy. The problem of garbage is close to us but we have to be creative to solve it and to persuade all students to cooperate. In our school, we always inform about the benefits of waste management and waste segregation; we launch games to motivate all students. Moreover, our teachers help us to inform this issue like my teacher in Art & Music class that composed a new song to raise awareness of the student about waste segregation. The success is our pride; now we know we can do it and we will maintain it for long.

The Eco-Schools Program is aimed to educate sustainable environmental management in school, to motivate children’s learning progress through school’s environmental development activities, and to improve analytical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership skills. This program is aimed to help enhance their active learning and build up strong participation for school development

2018 Eco-Schools Awarded

FEE awarded 3 schools the Green Flag for their commitment towards improving their school environment. 10 schools were granted the Silver Award by WWf-Thailand while 4 schools received the Bronze Award.

About the Eco-Schools programme

Eco-Schools is an environmental education programme for sustainable environmental management in a school. It is present in 67 country and more than 50,000 schools around the world. WWF-Thailand joined FEE and is Eco-Schools Program National Operator since 2016. Currently, there are 21 schools implementing the programme in Bangkok, Samut Prakarn, Nonthaburi and Phuket.

Eco-Schools Students in England Take Part in the Great Plastic Pick Up

On 11 May, Eco-Schools students at St. Mary's Catholic Primary School in Maidenhead, England were joined by British Prime Minister Theresa May for the launch of the Great Plastic Pick Up. The Great Plastic Pick Up is a campaign created by the Daily Mail and FEE National Operator in England Keep Britain Tidy with the goal to "turn the tide on plastic."  From 11-13 May, 12,000 volunteers at 1,100 sites across the United Kingdom removed tonnes of plastic and other litter from the UK's streets, beaches, and beauty spots.

Theresa May's visit was not the first time that St. Mary's has been singled out for its commitment to environmental education. On 13 March, the school was chosen from among hundreds of nominees as the winner of The Greenest School Award at the first ever Green Heart Hero Awards ceremony at the Houses of Parliament in London. The school has also been awarded five green flags over the course of its ten years of participation in the Eco-Schools programme. 

““This accolade is an acknowledgement of our school striving to be sustainable over the last decade... The event saw our pupils being acknowledged for their determination to make a difference in this world and preserve this beautiful planet for future generations.”

— St. Mary's Primary Catholic School on its Greenest School Award

St. Mary's was not the only Eco-School to get involved in the Great Plastic Pick Up.              Many Eco-Schools students from the 18,400 registered Eco-Schools across England organised their own litter pickups in conjunction with the campaign. In an effort to further expand its environmental education curriculum, Eco-Schools England will launch the Marine and Coast theme on 4th June. Since plastic pollution poses a significant threat to the environmental health of marine and coastal zones, the Great Plastic Pick Up was an opportunity for Eco-Schools students to get an early start on activities related to the Marine and Coast theme. Check out the hashtag #GreatPlasticPickUp on social media to see some of their activities. 

Thumbnail image: Keep Britain Tidy

Are you ready to take up the challenge?

The City Nature Challenge is an international effort for people to find and document plants and wildlife in cities across the globe. It’s a bioblitz-style competition where cities are in a contest against each other to see who can make the most observations of nature, who can find the most species, and who can engage the most people.

Over 60 cities will be competing to see who can make the most observations of nature, find the most species, and engage the most people in the worldwide 2018 City Nature Challenge. 

Taking part is easy! Check the details here!

Great British Spring Clean #LitterLessCampaign

• Story adapted from Keep Britain Tidy (www.keepbritaintidy.org)

More than 1,000 children from 15 schools across Leicester have been taking part in a massive litter pick as part of the Litter Less Campaingn organized by Keep Britain Tidy last week. In only one morning, students were able to collect 200 bags of rubbish in and around their schools  before joining together at a Leicester park to celebrate their achievements and help raise awareness. This is the first time a city’s schools have joined together to achieve such amazing results!

SJNCC students featured in this morning's BBC East Midlands News about the #LeicesterLitterLess campaign ... Watch it below:@bbcemt #GBSpringClean @EcoSchoolsLCC #LitterLess #FilbertFox @bbcemt @ITVCentral @BBCLeicester @KeepBritainTidy pic.twitter.com/5iIaeMX1Ha

— Sir Jonathan North (@SJNCCSchool) March 21, 2018

The Litter Less Campaign (a joint initiative of the Wrigley company and the Foundation for Environmental Education) is now in its seventh year and has run in 35 countries.  

“It would be a great idea to do this every week… students learn about how important our environment is and why we should cherish it” – Jenni, year 11, Hamilton Academy.

“Fun and enjoyable whilst being good for our school and local environment” – Keira, year 9, Hamilton Academy.

“It’s surprising the impact a few plastic bottles can have, we should recycle a lot more. It was really good how our student council came together as one real community” – Georgina, year 9, Hamilton Academy.

Congratulations to all the teachers and pupils for such an amazing, inspiring initiative!

Empowering Youth Can Save Our Oceans

Story provided by One More Generation™

In November 2016, One More Generation founders Olivia (14) and her brother Carter (16) launched their global OneLessStraw Pledge Campaign, in an effort to help clean up our environment and educate people on the harms of using single use plastic straws. 

Some interesting facts: In the U.S.A alone, an estimated 500,000,000 plastic straws are used every single day.  That is the equivalent to 1.6 straws for every man, woman and child living in this country every single day.  If you were to take an entire day's worth of plastic straws, they would fill up over 127 school busses of one-time use plastic straws that are ending up in our landfills and waterways.  Sick isn't it?

Since the launch of the campaign, over 5,000 people from over 46 countries around the world sign the online pledge form stating that “they promise not to use a single use plastic straw for at least 30 days”. Almost 500 partners from around the world have also joined the OneLessStraw Partners Page and helped to share the initiative. 

Schools across the world can participate in the program.  Schools signing on are listed as partners and on our interactive Google map. Students are then given the opportunity to sign the pledge stating they promise not to use a single plastic straw for at least 30 days.  Students are also encouraged to speak with their favorite restaurant and ask them to participate by signing the pledge.  

The OneLessStraw.org website has lots of resources and a cool interactive Google map which will tracks the progress of the campaign around the world.

Tapei Rocks!

Taipei Rocks is a project that started at Taipei European School (TES) as part of their plan to become an official Green Flag Eco-School.

Students at the primary campus decorated and wrote environmental messages on rocks. Afterwards, they spread their messages outside of the school walls by placing their rocks in public places. 

The project has two main goals. First, to raise awareness of important environmental issues within our community and beyond. Secondly, to encourage students to spend more time outdoors enjoying nature. Our hope is that students at TES can see how a message can spread, and how even a small act can be the catalyst for much bigger change.

If you find a rock…

You can search for the rock you have found on this website using the 4-digit code on the back of the rock. When you find the rock on the website, please upload your photo and be creative! You could take the rock out for some beef noodles or do some sightseeing with it around Taipei 101! The children who made the rocks will be following their page so we think it will be funny for them to see pictures of their rocks travelling around. Finally, please share the message of the rock on social media using the hashtag #taipeirocks to help spread environmental awareness.

The next step is to place the rock somewhere else. We want the message to spread, so the rocks need to keep moving around to do this.

Of course, if you would like to paint your own rock and add it to the treasure hunt…that would be even better! You can find out how to take part on this website. 

Let’s see how many rocks we can inspire and how far they can spread these positive messages!

Northern Ireland Pupils take on a Food Waste Challenge

• Story provided by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful

Eco-Schools in Northern Ireland have been looking at the issue of food waste as part of their Eco-School action plans.

Pupils have been hearing about the damage caused to the environment when food waste is sent to landfill and have also been shocked to hear that globally we throw 1/3 of our food away. Most households in Northern Ireland have recently been supplied with a food waste bin service by their local council which is collected and then made into compost.

Pupils have been asked to highlight the great resource produced from recycling food into compost. They have learnt about the 3R’s of Reducing, Reusing and Recycling food waste and have been showing the creative ways they recycle by posting pictures to social media of their superhero waste recycling moves #wastehero.

The project supplied schools with the resources to conduct a food waste school survey and also supplied pupils with stickers and pledges to take home to remind the whole family about food waste reduction and recycling. A before and after survey will be conducted to see if pupils feel more confident about recycling their food waste after taking part in the project.

Pupils from St Joseph’s Primary School, Cookstown, prove they are Food Waste Superheroes.

National Wildlife Federation’s Eco-Schools USA Introduces Two New Pathways of Sustainability

With the arrival of the new school year, Eco-Schools USA introduced two new environmental focus areas, or pathways of sustainability.  The first new pathway is the WOW pathway or Watersheds, Oceans and Wetlands. To celebrate the new pathways and to test drive the WOW pathway resources and audits, NWF’s Eco-Schools staff spent several days at Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.  Staff paddled in canoes to a nearby marsh, identified plants and wildlife, collected data such as soil and water samples and then spent time speaking with island residents about the impacts of climate change on their lives and on the island. Staff created Action Plans and determined the best avenues for integration of the WOW pathway into school curriculum and community.  This hands-on testing allows Eco-Schools USA staff to put themselves in the place of educators and students and to ensure that the resources and programming they are developing work in the field and classroom and support student learning. NWF is planning to continue to “test drive” all new audits as they move forward in the development of new pathways and revisions to existing ones.

NWF’s second new pathway, Learning about Forests (LEAF) is a Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) programme hosted by NWF in the United States.  NWF has chosen to start the implementation of the LEAF programme as a pathway under the Eco-Schools USA programme. This brings the total number of pathways in the United States to twelve, and provides schools with opportunities to integrate a wide range of authentic, place-based, and environment focused instructional strategies as part of the school’s curriculum.  

The LEAF pathway builds upon NWF’s Schoolyard Habitats™ programme and Trees for Wildlife programme.  Students will utilise the forested landscape as a classroom for learning, and have the opportunity to increase their knowledge about the key role forests play in sustaining life on our planet. Schools will take actions such as creating “Tiny Forests” or “Food Forests” on their school grounds or in their communities, or investigate the concept of forest fragmentation on bird species and plant trees in urban areas to decrease the impacts of climate change.            

Photo Credit: Brooklyn New School

n the U.S. not all schools are located near water, but with water being a critical environmental issue, learning to be good stewards of our waterways is crucial. Schools can choose to address any of the three pathways: Watersheds, Oceans or Wetlands to learn how to better conserve and protect these precious natural resources.  Some of the ways in which schools are addressing these issues include developing a campaign around plastic waste in oceans, learning about their local watersheds or field investigations on the impact of runoff on wetlands and wildlife. 

Photo credit:  Elizabeth Soper

Food: New Theme in Eco-Schools!

In the last three years, 513 Eco-Schools have engaged in shaping food consumption in a more just and sustainable way and thus have contributed to solving the global challenges of our time.  

Altogether 539,000 students were involved in actions around responsible food consumption such as planting vegetables, creating seed banks or campaigning for alternatives to palm oil.  Of these, 112,189 have directly organised events about how to stop food waste, eat less meat, find local and seasonal food, and promote farmers who produce it.  All this contributes to solving global problems of biodiversity loss, climate change, deforestation, pollution of water, soil and air, unequal share of global resources, and poverty.

The We Eat Responsibly project ran in 9 EU countries from 2015-2018.  We Eat Responsibly trained 3,012 teachers in the global dimension of responsible food consumption and 27,696 of their colleagues took part in organising project-related events. The project actively involved 76,000 parents conducting reviews of food consumption habits in 42,212 households. And 114,926 parents took part in some of the project events.

The enthusiasm of all and the impressive project results led to a proposal by the project consortium to include the Theme of Food into the  Eco-School Themes. This initiative was presented at the Eco-Schools NOM in Paris and FOOD as a new Theme within Eco-Schools International was accepted.
 

Positive Actions in the Future of Education at the Eco-Schools NOM 2017

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Nicole Andreou, nicole@fee.global

Copenhagen, 7 November 2017 - Next week the Eco-Schools International team will be on their way to the annual Eco-Schools National Operator Meeting (NOM), this year taking place in Paris, France. Sessions, workshops and activities will revolve around the theme: Positive Actions in the Future of Education. The NOM will be taking place 17-19 November, and Eco-Schools project workshops are scheduled to take place on 20 November. Eco-Schools is one of five programmes run by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE).

Eco-Schools National Operators from over 60 countries will be participating in the meeting to discuss, exchange experiences, participate in professional development sessions and make their contributions to the development of the Eco-Schools programme. The agenda focuses on the Themes of Health & Wellbeing and Marine & Coast, plus the Sustainable Development Goals and their connection to the programme. It includes professional development sessions on Transformative Education, Project-Based Learning and Fundraising; and provides space for group work on Green Flag Benchmarking, Eco-Schools Twinning, Natural Disasters, planning for the Eco-Schools 25th Anniversary in 2019 and FEE EcoCampus.

As part of the official programme, Eco-Schools International will welcome Jérémie Petit of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Marchand-Maillet of MGEN, Bernard Combes from UNESCO, Mari Nishimura from UNEP, Maëlle Montier from World Ocean Network, and French Eco-Schools representatives.

Attendees will have the chance to hear about programme developments by Thierry Lerévérend, CEO of NOM 2017 host organisation, Teragir, Laura Hickey of the National Wildlife Federation and FEE Board of Directors, Daniel Schaffer, FEE CEO, Bríd Conneely, International Eco-Schools Director, and many of the National Operators from across the globe.

Bríd Conneely says: “We are so excited to be going to Paris for the meeting. It is the first time France is hosting the Eco-Schools National Operator Meeting and it is also the largest meeting ever with over 100 delegates. It is a huge plus to have so many organisations from civil society in Paris discussing the SDGs and the communities that make them relevant.”

In the evening of 18 November, the Paris City Hall will be hosting a Green Flag Ceremony. Six French schools will be awarded the Green Flag by representatives of Teragir’s most prominent institutional and corporate partners: the Paris City Hall, the Ministries of Education, Sustainable Development, and Foreign Affairs, MGEN, and CITEO.

Follow Eco-Schools International on social media and stay tuned.

Press Release PDF.

#ESParis2017 #EcoSchools #EcoEcole

@EcoSchoolsInt @Eco_Ecole

PHOTO GALLERY © Foundation for Environmental Education

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Zero Waste Initiative: The British School Kathmandu and Cleanup Nepal

• By Jenny Pinder, Eco-Schools Coordinator at the British School of Kathmandu

The British School Kathmandu has been supporting Cleanup Nepal to develop the Zero Waste at Schools Initiative. The idea is that a private school pays for a waste lesson, staff training, and a waste audit and a government school receives reciprocal training for free.

Up to now, recycling in Nepal has been very challenging, with poverty leading to waste dumping, and burning leading to poisonous leachate, fumes, dangers to animals, and visual and water pollution. Cleanup Nepal is working to try to re-educate the community by making them more aware of their impact and how they can improve their environment.

By teaching them how and what they can reduce, reuse and recycle hopefully we will see a huge improvement to the environment of Nepal.

Children at Shree Tika Vidyashram School learning about reducing waste.

An example of an environmental Diary created by a pupil at Shree Tika Vidyashram School.

Cleanup Nepal teaching the Students at The British School, Kathmandu.

Article published: Waste-Water-Watts (W³) - An Eco-Schools Green STEM, Project-based Learning Initiative

This month Eco-Schools International submitted an article to The Learning Teacher Magazine, presenting the Eco-Schools programme and the Alcoa Waste-Water-Watts (W³) project. Eco-Schools International will also be presenting a poster at The Learning Teacher Network Conference in Aarhus, Denmark on 21-23 September 2017.

Find the article here, on p.15.

When Plastic Bottles Meet Fun

Story provided by WWF Thailand

This innovative idea came from the Wat Bangnanai School, Bangkok, Thailand. The Eco Committee wanted to solve their problem of waste separation by having a general bin and a recycle bin in the school area. However, the students still continued to mix their garbage.

One day, the school basketball team won the Thailand Regional Championship. This inspired a lot of the other students to want to become basketball stars. They started practicing by trying to dunk their plastic bottles like they were basketballs. The Eco Committee took that idea and created a special bin called ‘Shoot for Change’. This bin is more than two meters high with a painted backboard and basketball hoop at the top. Now the students can have fun throwing plastic bottles in the bin.  Moreover, they are now separating the bottles correctly at the same time. Because of its height, the other type of waste, especially general waste because of its lightness, cannot be thrown inside the bin.

This ‘Shoot for Change’ bin has gained a lot of interest throughout the whole school and reduced mixed garbage by more than 50% within one month. Soon, they will have a bottle shooting competition in the school as well.

'We Eat Responsibly' bringing Eco-Schools together

We Eat Responsibly project is a pan-European project built on a vision. In a world that is facing major global challenges, we ask what kind of learning do we need to equip young people with the knowledge, skills and values relevant for a sustainable future.

The We Eat Responsibly project started in February 2015  and will end in January 2018. It was built as an explorative project bringing together a long established Eco-Schools network (that has been operating for over 25 years) and an experimental innovative methodology with a systemic global scope of thinking.

Taking into account that as humanity we already live beyond the planetary boundaries and in the near future our planet will need to feed 10 billion people, we believe that reflection on our lifestyle and its impacts on the people and ecosystems of the world is a crucial step towards a future that can work for everyone.

We focused on work with a global dimension of responsible food consumption and sustainable food systems. The problematic management of global food systems nowadays is a root cause of key global challenges. Hunger, poverty and human rights violations, environmental degradation and biodiversity loss, exploitation and pollution of natural resources altogether stem from the way our food is produced, shipped and consumed. These problems stand behind many social and political conflicts and contribute to climate change in a major way.

Our project enables children, pupils, students, teachers and members of local communities to explore the context of food production and empowers them to look for responsible changes that are achievable in their local context.

In 2017, after two years of implementation of the project, We Eat Responsibly has succeeded in involving 494 unique schools, training 2,950 teachers and involving more than 262,300 pupils and students in 9 project countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia).

There are all kinds of schools involved in the project – secondary, elementary schools and even kindergartens.

Responsible food consumption has proved to be an important and comprehensible topic for public actors such as municipalities, local governments etc. For example, thanks to students and teachers in Burgas, Bulgaria, who were involved in the We Eat Responsibly project in 2016, the local municipality of Burgas launched a campaign together with a  funding scheme: Eat responsibly, live healthy for addressing responsible food consumption in all the schools and kindergartens in Burgas.

The potential to influence public policy by the We Eat Responsibly project stems mainly from the public actions that are usually lead by local youth involving the whole community. We trust that the changes happening around schools, and the deeper understanding of global interconnectedness by students and teachers creates a greater confidence in the actors involved that change is possible and that this is at the core of public policy changes.

Website:  https://www.eatresponsibly.eu

Facebook international: https://www.facebook.com/weeatresponsibly/

We Eat Responsibly project is created with support from the European Union.