We are Ecology-Centred

ECOLOGYCENTRED

ARE WE

LEILA MANGOS

ECOLOGY CAPTAIN 2020-2021

WE MEET LORETO NORMANHURST’S FIRST ECOLOGY CAPTAIN AS SHE SHARES HER VISION FOR 2020-2021.

I’m delighted to be the inaugural Loreto Normanhurst Ecology Captain for 2020 and 2021.

It is all too easy to talk the talk of sustainability. I believe that it is through action that we can become a truly ecology-centred school. Conversations and discussions are crucial; however, I hope to take the school community a step further into real environmental action in 2021.

My role as Ecology Captain is vast and difficult to define. Not only does it involve running the school Green Team on Friday lunchtimes for students, but I’m also lucky enough to attend school sustainability meetings with staff, help establish the Loreto Normanhurst Green Travel Plan, and work alongside the House Ecology Captains to achieve environmental justice. In Term 3 2020, I met with the House Ecology Captains to establish our goals for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021.

In our time as leaders of the school’s ecology initiatives, we hope to encourage change both at school and in the wider community. Within the school, this will look like improved waste management, engaging Green Team meetings and activities, a potential sustainable 'Market Day' in 2021 and increased student enthusiasm about our potential for ecological justice. To achieve such justice in the wider community, we will invite students on tree-planting and cleanup excursions, empower them with the ability to contact politicians and companies about the sustainability of their policies, and encourage parents to review their capacity to improve ecological consideration within their households.

My care for the environment comes from my passion for justice – we cannot treat our natural world in harmful and unsustainable ways and expect there to be no consequences. It is imperative that we realise social and ecological justice go hand in hand, and that one cannot be attained without the other. For one, environmental justice cannot be achieved without Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander justice.

We cannot have a fulfilled and functioning society when nature is experiencing countless natural disasters due to human activity. Humanity must remember that we are intertwined with the natural environment; we rely on it for our food, water, clothing, infrastructure, energy and even the air we breathe. I hope that in my role as Ecology Captain and through my awarenessraising initiatives, I can remind the Loreto Normanhurst community why it is so important to remain ecologically conscious, even when the environment might not be at the top of our minds.

“It is imperative that we realise social and ecological justice go hand in hand.”