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Green@School

Schools being cool!

The Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI) is a partnership of federal and state governments and organisations. Its aim is for all Australian schools and their communities to be sustainable. AuSSI was piloted in New South Wales and Victoria between 2002 and 2004 with 350 schools. Since it was rolled out nationally, more than 2000 schools have participated. The program has a whole-school approach with real-life learning experiences and improvements in a school's management of resources and facilities.

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Investing in nesting

If you’re concerned about endangered wildlife in your school area and not sure what you can do, the Werribee Open Range Zoo’s Investing in Nesting program offers a unique way to become involved.

Run by the zoo’s education team, the program provides a real opportunity to be involved in ongoing environmental action. Students learn about the displacement of native species from their habitat due to the urban sprawl.

After visiting the zoo to learn about the program, participating schools are given a nestbox to install in their school grounds. Students collect data on any animals that have inhabited the boxes and then conclude whether or not the nestbox has been effective and has benefited the local wildlife.

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Yarra River recovery

One of the big challenges of climate change is the loss of our indigenous plants and damage to our waterways. To counteract this effect, Greening Australia has developed a program in Victoria to help the Yarra River recover and survive for future generations.

‘There are a many ways we can do this,’ says Jess Baillie, School Program Coordinator at Greening Australia. ‘And one of the main ways is to involve schools and communities.’

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Tackling climate change at school

Climate change is certainly a ‘hot’ topic at the moment. The amount of news space devoted to the various aspects of climate change—the impacts, the causes and so on—certainly points to the seriousness of this issue.

However, climate change is not something to worry about. It is something we need to do things about. For example, if all Australian households simply turned off unused lights and switched off appliances on standby at the power point, Australia’s emissions would be reduced by at least 5 million tonnes per annum. The greenhouse gas savings would be equivalent to taking 1.5 million cars off the road for a year. There is a range of programs available for schools to assist them in reducing the amount of energy used.

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