Our lives within the 21st century are very fast and busy and are filled with our drive to pursue our desires. Sometimes this makes us susceptible to commit logical fallacies presented to us, therefore hindering us from making the conscious decisions we would like to. As a result of this, the negatives may outweigh the positives. The globe is frighteningly becoming warmer and warmer, due to an acceleration of the level of greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere. This has a direct impact on the natural sceneries and monuments that play an integral role in our cultural and national identities, including our national pride, the Great Barrier Reef.

As the temperature rises, the Great Barrier Reef’s natural beauty continue to wither away, suffering from heat stress, a severe side effect of temperature increases. A primary consequence of this stress is its affect on the microalgae (zooxanthellae) living in the tissue of the corals. These microalgae are ejected, causing the coral to turn completely white. This leads to coral bleaching and combined with the global acidification of the ocean due to increases of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it makes it harder for corals to grow and recover from these continual bleaching events to be healthy again.

While there is a current lack of action in reducing reliance on coal as a fuel source, combined with an actual increased investment into infrastructures to encourage the exporting of coal by our federal government. It is undeniable that this will a start chain reaction in the future health of our environment. It is obvious to me that if individuals and grassroot organisations step up and address this issue, the effect of these instances of negligence can be minimised by a significant margin, as well as abiding by the Paris Agreement

(COP 21 conference) in curtailing the warming of Earth under two degrees celsius.

Our state is predominantly powered by coal, most of which is burnt at the Hazelwood Power Station. This is Australia’s dirtiest power generation station, burning brown coal in order to meet Victoria’s high energy demands. In the process of producing this dirty energy, 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gases are produced annually as a byproduct, contributing to an Enhanced Greenhouse Effect, impacting the Earth’s wildlife and sensitive ecosystems, while also affecting our luxurious lifestyle detrimentally.

Australia has extensive resources and vast opportunities to be powered by renewable energies. Who as a country and society could be any luckier? When Australia has the highest average solar radiation per square metre of any continent in the world.

You and I can show what is possible to the federal government and the community with the power of students!

At school, the Student Environment Team and the team’s mentor (the Sustainability Collective) have and continue to implement many campaigns and initiatives for the benefit of our school community for over more than 10 years. In 2015, the team won $100 000 USD for renewable energy initiatives and education programs from the Zayed Future Energy Prize. In 2013, year 9 student Ingrid Morton won $20,000 in prize money from the Ocean Acidification Art Challenge to invest in solar and pedal initiatives that helped us to form an effective submission for the Zayed Prize. The prize money from the Zayed competition enabled us to kickstart our massive Solar Array, the development of our Ergo Generators, a Micro Hydro Generator and the Solar Fountain.

The Ergo generators are based on a concept of harnessing kinetic energy produced by our rowing girls practicing rowing indoors on rowing machines. Kinetic energy is produced on the ergo’s and then this energy is converted into electrical energy, which is then used to power for lights in use, essentially making the ergos electrical generators. The solar fountain is also used as an educational tool which is used to demonstrate another potential source of renewable energy in the form of solar energy. The Micro Hydro generator consists of water from the third floor in the middle staircase which turns a turbine. The energy generated from the turning turbine can be used to charge phones (which seem to always run out of battery), producing a guilt-free charging station via Green Power! All of our projects are fully operational and are able to be used now. Our solar array made up of 126 panels is meeting 10% of our school’s energy needs and the other 90% is from the main grid which can be traced back to the Hazelwood Power Station.

Our goal is to become fully carbon neutral by reducing our current energy use, to produce a higher percentage of our school’s energy needs and to continue fundraising in order to support our initiative to purchase the remainder of our school’s needs for renewable energy sources. This will in turn inspire government bodies to change their beliefs by setting an example of our achievement to other schools and the community. While also inspiring them to implement widespread renewable energy production strategies, which is what I would say is our ultimate goal.

We - the Student MGC Environment Team - would like to show real STEAM leadership on this important issue that affects us in the present and which will continue to have an impact on our lives into the future. We feel that we have the power and the knowledge to implement strategies that will make meaningful impact on our climate. We know we need to act urgently and we don’t believe we have to wait until we are politicians ourselves!

We are calling on the community to help our school be powered by 100% renewable power.

There are several ways you can assist:

1. When you’re visiting the school, jump on the bikes or the ergo machines and see how much power you can contribute to the grid.

2. Encourage efficient use of lights, heaters and electrical devices.

3. Form a group and raise some money to donate another panel to our 33kW array.

Each panel costs $450 to install so you can individually donate or donate as a group with several families or as a friendship group. The sponsor gets to name the panel on our digital array and you will be updated with an annual report including the power produced and greenhouse gases saved. For more information on the Adopt a Panel program see: http://bit.ly/1SizHj3

I am positive that together we can achieve our endeavor to create a more sustainable future and healthy lifestyle for us, the planet and the future citizens of Earth.

MGC community, let’s lead and achieve in being green!

Thirumagal Arunachalam-Elanthendral

College Environment Co-Vice Captain 2016 (Energy portfolio)