Green Schools turn up heat on climate change with new programme

Published by Eric Maher on March 27, 2017March 27, 2017

27th March 2017

Green Schools National Climate Change Action & Awareness programme was launched as part of the National Dialogue on Climate Action last week

The announcement was made at the Climate Hope seminar in Brigit’s Gardens, Rosscahill, Co Galway. The seminar, which is also being run under Green Schools, is aimed at increasing awareness of climate change and promoting climate actions in the school community through projects being carried out in schools in counties Galway, Clare and Mayo.

Green Schools Climate Change Action Programme

Image result for green schools ireland It is hoped that the programme will raise awareness and participation among a younger generation when it comes to understanding and tackling climate change.

A national climate action week in October will give schools an opportunity to prepare their own initiatives and projects for a climate action day and take a climate action pledge. This should all feed into the Green Schools Expo at the RDS in February, 2018.

Teachers training seminars will also take place to inform and assist teachers with the initiative and more resources are to be made available.

The campaign also hopes to give more autonomy to students with an ambassodor being chosen to champion climate action in each school. The programme will identify champions in schools, campuses and the community who will work as ambassadors’ for climate change. The aim of the programme is to increase awareness of the causes and outcomes of climate change, undertake actions in their schools, campus or community more resilient to climate change by improving their local environment

Applications will open in September and the ambassador will be chosen in time for the climate action week in October.

Speaking at the launch, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten T.D, congratulated Green Schools for organising the climate hope event and emphasised the need to maintain a strong and ongoing connection to the youth of Ireland and the key role young people will have in influencing climate actions into the future. He saw the campaign “as having a crucial role to play in connecting students, parents and community groups from all over the country to share innovative actions.”

National Dialogue on Climate Change

Under the National Dialogue on Climate Action, several projects will be initiated to increase youth and community involvement in climate action activities. It is hoped these initiatives will be hugely important in helping to promote positive actions and innovative ideas to support communities in adapting to a changing climate.

The Dialogue will run initially for a period of 2 years with a soon to be established steering group to support and administer the activities of the dialogue. A series of regional gatherings is also under consideration in terms of initiating local input to the dialogue process.

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