Sustainability@FCC

Sustainability student team at Melbourne Water  conference

by Michelle Sanders, Sustainability Coordinator

On Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 October the Student Environment and Sustainability Team attended the 2016 Melbourne Water Kids Teaching Kids Conference. With more than 600 students from 55 schools across Victoria, there was a buzz of conversation around sustainable initiatives and caring for the local environment.

Day one was hosted at the University of Melbourne and saw Footscray City College students participate in interactive workshops developed by primary and secondary school students. Topics included water saving, marine wildlife, gardening, saving endangered species of the Murray, wetlands, soil health, plastics in the environment and saving the Great Barrier Reef. Footscray students came away with many ideas and activities to try back at school.

It was excellent to see The Hon. Lisa Neville, Minister for Water, and The Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Energy, Environment, Climate Change and Suburban Development,

congratulate the students on their efforts and listen to their ideas to create a more sustainable future. We finished up day one with a gala dinner that included school performances, guest speakers and rock band Minor Sensation.

The second day was at the Collingwood Children’s Farm. Here conference delegates participated in environmental projects such as microbat nest box building, farm tours, warm farming, composting, tree planting, reclaiming Bunjil’s Birrarung and plant propagation.

The two days were thoroughly enjoyable and it was amazing to learn about sustainable projects and environmental initiatives carried out at other schools.

 Hot Docs film gets national coverage

by Sue Dwyer, Year 9 Hot Docs teacher

The Climate Council tweeted the Year 9 Hot Docs film “The Power of Kelp” on their feed last Tuesday 25 October. The film, produced by Martin Harris, Joshua Miller, Daniel Rooney and Luey Kemp-Mykyta, was inspired by a wild idea from Tim Flannery, head of the Climate Council, which was established after ex-PM Tony Abbott abolished the Climate Commission as a government advisory body. The Climate Council’s mission is to provide independent authoritative and expert advice about climate change to the Australian public. At a public talk earlier in the year, Tim pitched the idea of sequestering carbon in massive kelp farms as he claimed kelp grows much quicker than trees and doesn’t require any land area. He has estimated we would need to plant trees covering an area four or five times the size of Australia to pull enough CO2 from the atmosphere to make a difference to global warming. “The Power of Kelp” uses facts and humour to investigate what the public and a Nobel-prize winning scientist think about Tim Flannery’s idea.

You can watch "The Power of Kelp" here: 

https://vimeo.com/180565056