Leaders of change

Middle School students participating in a waste audit

EMMA WATTERS, LEADER OF LEARNING YEARS 4-8

Students at Middle School have the opportunity to participate in multiple leadership opportunities throughout their time with us. One such way that our students can get involved is by signing up to represent their peers as part of the Student Representative Council (SRC).

Recently, Will Johnson and I sat down with some members of the SRC Enviro group, who represent the sustainability and environment pursuits of our school to learn about their thinking, and their hopes for the future.

During our discussions, it was clear that the students are aware that there are many issues and problems relating to sustainability in our wider community, but in the end it’s the little things that when done enough times end up building up to a bigger problem.

Their main concern is that each individual person in our community needs to be conscious of their actions.

“…An example is: dropping a bit of plastic rubbish may not seem that harmful at the time, but it will lead to a problem if we’re all doing it and nothing changes. Eventually it feeds into a larger problem of plastic waste.”

“…Just using things once and then throwing it away has got to stop. We need to stop using plastic cups and bottles and so on that get thrown out after we use them once. We need to fix this. I’d like to see plastics that can break down and bin liners and so on that are biodegradable.” “We were recently looking at fast fashion in class and I believe that fast fashion is something that needs our attention. We don’t really think about the resources and time that go into making something simple like a plain cotton shirt. It takes thousands and thousands of litres of water to grow a cotton tree, and then all these pesticides are used, then all this effort and energy goes into making the cheap t-shirt which may then be worn a few times and then thrown out. There’s too much waste. When

we buy the shirt we forget all this - not to mention the carbon emissions from the whole process!” “Carbon emissions are something else that aren’t right. I think there should be more awareness for electric cars. We need more recharging stations. We should start riding bicycles more.” “We need to remember that what we drop on the floor could end up in the ocean which could affect fish, and it could also affect people because realistically, they eat the fish. So we’re digesting the plastic that the fish has digested and though it’s not much, it’s there. There has been scientific research and scientific proof that we do actually eat plastics from fish. So not only is it affecting the fish, its actually affecting you and your lifestyle.

So, with that in mind what thoughts do they have about the future of our planet?

“I’ve been thinking about the net zero emissions by 2050 - that’s been a big thing recently and it’s really good because it’s a positive movement, but we have to keep it realistic. We know it’s not going to happen overnight and we’re not going to see the effect of what we do now until 20-30 years’ time. We have to consider that if 20 or 30 years ago they were doing exactly what we are doing now, what has actually changed? Perhaps we haven’t evolved to an acceptable level yet. Something needs to change to keep our community evolving” With students thinking of their futures and advocating for change such as this at the Middle School, we are hopeful for a bright and sustainable future.

Many thanks to Joshua Ames, Savidu Kapuhen Thuduwage, Kaitlin Russell, Eason Gao, Sam Berryman, Ned Berryman and Hugo Chalmers for contributing their ideas and thoughts for this article.

What are our SRC members hoping for the future?

“Just for people to realise what you can do to help. If we can inspire you to do that and you can go tell your friend ‘I just saw this on the news, or in this article the other day’ then it gets around to a lot of people quite quick.”

“It doesn’t really help if we just make more rules. It’s more than just enforcement. People need education about all this stuff so that they make better choices. People need to learn the actual effects of their actions.”