Climate Canons

Catholic Youth Summit

On Friday, 3 September Isabelle Cayoun, SRC, Chanelle Min, Student Ministry, and Akshita Minhas, Climate Canons, participated in the Catholic Earthcare Youth Summit at Aquinas College.

Catholic Earthcare is a program of Caritas Australia and is the ecological agency established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Their mission is to care for and protect creation and to respond to Pope Francis’ paper,  Laudato Si. Earthcare’s Youth Summit was a student-led, student designed eco day focused on empowering student leaders through opportunities for advocacy and action in the space of ecological justice and sustainability of our common home. The Summit nurtured student discussion on a number of ecological topics and inspires leading more sustainable lifestyles within our schools and communities.

The students were excellent ambassadors of St Norbert College and worked along many other Catholic schools. A number of proactive decisions were made by the students and it fostered a stronger relationship between the Student Representative Council, Student Ministry and the Climate Canons. Thank you to Mrs Spinks for driving the bus.

National Biodiversity Month

Biodiversity Month is held in September each year and aims to promote the importance of protecting, conserving and improving biodiversity both within Australia and across the world. The aim is to ensure our important environments and habitats are preserved for future generations of Australians to appreciate and enjoy. Over the course of September, the Climate Canons have hosted four events.

The Climate Canons promoted the start of the month with an information board and spinning wheel quiz. Students were engaged at lunchtime and learnt about simple ways they can protect their local environments. 

We also hosted an art competition where students painted, sketched and drew images of individual species or biodiversity as a whole. There were excellent entrants and congratulations to Curtis Blackwood (Yr 12), Lucy Ritchie (Yr 8), Franchesca Varilla (Yr 8) and Charlize Field (Yr 7) who were our prize winners, producing wonderful pieces of art. 

Homerooms were encouraged to participate in the National Biodiversity Month Endangered Species Poster competition where they produced an informative poster on an endangered animal relating to their house. Xanten had mammals to research, Premontre had penguins, Magdeburg had birds, Kilnacrott had reptiles and Tongerlo had Australian marsupials. Thank you to the homerooms that were involved. Congratulations to P7, M7, K5 and K6 who produced the winning posters! 

Threatened Species Day

On 7 September each year, many people stop and reflect on the fact that on that same date in 1936, Australia’s Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, slipped over the extinction line. Sixty years later in 1996, the Threatened Species Network founded by WWF-Australia and the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust established National Threatened Species Day to commemorate the death of the last Tasmanian tiger at Hobart Zoo. National Threatened Species Day is a day when we shine a spotlight on all the Australian native animal and plant species that are facing similar fates to that of the Tasmanian tiger. 

Students hosted a quiz and information board at lunchtime, testing staff and students’ knowledge on identifying how many species are left of some of the world’s most threatened species.

To round out the month, students are watching The Lorax in the Br Pat Forum, to understand the seriousness of biodiversity loss in a not so serious way. Thank you to all the staff and students who have supported the awareness of this month and to the Climate Canons who gave up their time to continue the ongoing support of this excellent sustainability committee. 

Vertical Garden

Our green thumb students of the Climate Canons have established a vertical garden near the Xanten Performing Arts building. Here, we plan on growing vegetables and herbs for the Food Technologies classroom and growing native plants to encourage pollinators to return to the area. Special thanks to Max Patriarca for lending the Climate Canons a hand.

Miss D Pisconeri

(Humanities and Social Sciences Teacher (Geography)

Science Teacher)