Enviro Week 2023 – 5 June – 9 June 2023

Last week was Enviro Week, with the Sustainability Leaders organising a range of activities highlighting environmental issues and importance of living more sustainably.

Simple Actions that Help the Environment

• Planting trees – get involved in school and local community tree planting days.
• Using less electricity and water – turn off lights and be mindful of water use.
• Carefully choosing what and how much we buy and eat to reduce food waste.
• Trying to use public transport or walking where possible instead of driving.

Screening of the film, ‘The Lorax’,

The film, ‘The Lorax’, was shown across three lunchtimes and was clearly a favourite for many students. ‘The Lorax’ is a good reminder for us to care for our earth, our forests, and preserve those pristine environments we have left.

World Environment Day, World Ocean’s Day, Nude Food and Rubbish Blitz

World Environment Day with the theme of #BeatPlasticPollution and World Ocean’s Day were both acknowledged throughout the week. Our oceans are not mere bodies of water, they source and house various life forms upon our Earth.

World Ocean Day Facts

• Around the globe, 100 million marine animals die each year due to plastic waste alone.
• Plastic pollution drastically alters habitats and natural processes, which reduces the ecosystems’ ability to adapt to the ever-changing climate as a cause of human impact.
• As the plastic waste doesn’t dissolve, it remains in the water, polluting our land and slowly killing animals at an alarming rate.
• There is a gyre of plastic debris that has been dubbed the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’. It can be found in the north-central Pacific Ocean, and it is the largest accumulation of this kind in the world.

The damaging effects plastic waste causes in the environment highlights the importance of replacing the use of plastics with more sustainable and biodegradable alternatives. Across the week, the school community were encouraged to minimise food waste by being mindful to bring NUDE FOOD to school. This included utilising reusable containers and beeswax wraps rather than plastic wrapping going to landfill. The canteen gave their support by providing paper bags and students could bring their own containers for their orders.�� On Tuesday and Thursday, classes participated in a Rubbish Blitz in the school yard to collect any rubbish and tidy up in different areas of the school.

Clothes Swap

In a bold move to reduce the effects of Fast Fashion, students were encouraged to participate in a Clothes Swap organised by Georgia Atherton and Evie Ryan. Instead of throwing away unused items of clothing, students were invited to bring in those items they no longer wear or use and swap with another item.

Fast Fashion Facts –

• The average consumer bought 60% more clothing in 2014 than in 200, but kept each garment for half as long.
• 73% of clothes end up in landfills or incinerated.
• 22 million tonnes of microfibres added to the ocean between 2015 and 2050

Biodiversity Audit with Resource Smart Schools

A small team of students, made up from the Sustainability Team, Tjatjarrang – First Nations Team, and student volunteers, worked diligently with Bram McLeod from Resource Smart Schools along with Craig Billows and Lisa Singline to conduct a biodiversity audit on the Ģ����Ƶ school grounds. The school was divided into four different areas, and as a group, they counted and tallied all the native and exotic plants in the categories of trees over 6 metres, shrubs, and bushes between 0.5 metres and 6 metres, and ground covers under 0.5 metres, as well as other relevant information. Then they spent time to collate all the data together to generate an overall biodiversity score of 75%. This gives the Sustainability Team a good gauge of where we are currently at, and which areas could be improved upon in our biodiversity improvement plan.

Fundraiser for Uaimori school in Viqueque

The environmental effects of climate change are shown to have greater impacts on developing nations and this inspired holding a Sausage Sizzle Fundraiser in support for our Sister School in East Timor. With thanks to those who assisted and supported on the day, a total of $477.51 was raised and will go straight to Uaimori school in Viqueque.

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Zoos Victoria Mobile Muster and Bread Ties Collection at Ģ����Ƶ House (outside the Office)

The mobile phone muster collects all mobile phones, tablets, and associated accessories in any condition to help raise funds for conservation to protect Eastern Lowland Gorillas. The recycled bread tags are sent off to South Australia and all the funds raised from recycling them go towards sending wheelchairs to disadvantaged people, mainly in South Africa. Both of the collection boxes are at Ģ����Ƶ House (outside the Office).

THANK YOU

Huge thanks and appreciate on to students and staff who participated and showed support for Enviro Week in so many ways across week.

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Congratulations to the Sustainability Leaders, Amber McMurrich, Libby Ahern, Georgia Atherton, Evie Ryan, Ella Harding, Yu-Ru Tan, Michaela Norris, and Charlotte Birrell

for their efforts in organising a fantastic Enviro Week for 2023.

• Lisa Singline