Schools switch off power in environment initiative
Fifty-two schools have today switched off their electricity and water supplies for an hour in an exercise intended to show how planned and thoughtful actions can make an impact on the state of the environment and quality of life.
The schools participating in the exercise have been taking and recording morning and afternoon readings of their school’s water and electricity meters since last Monday. All the readings covering the five day school week will be pooled together and the total number of the units saved today will be calculated. This will then be converted into the quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution saved from the air.
Every unit of electricity (1kWh) releases 880g of CO2 in the air, together with other harmful gases and dust.
The activity was held on the initiative of Ekoskola and Nature Trust Malta.
The first school to switch off was St. Albert the Great College in Valletta, where mains were turned off by Joanna Drake, Head of the EU Commission Representation Office in Malta.
The activity was held to mark Schuman Day, which is recognized as being Europe Day.
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9 Comments
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Johann Gatt
May 11th 2008, 21:57
Being an educator myself, I get to meet a lot of students from different schools and all ages. Luckily environmental awareness has trickled down to each and every child thanks to so many educators who meticulously infuse environmental education concepts into the already existing subjects. Nowadays students are very knowledgeable re:environemntal concerns. But what really impresses me is the fact that they are not being the typical armchair critics, but they are rolling up their sleeves and taking action. Besides coming up with ideas and initiatives they are putting them into practice and trying to convince others in the process. I leave it up to your readers to decide whether their enthusiasm is stupid, worthless and merely a symbolic gesture.
Audrey Gauci
May 11th 2008, 21:45
Mr. Farrugia,
In this exercise children have been involved. They feel they are contributing something to the world - and many are taking this initiative at home.
Do you have any suggestions on how things can be useful? Everyone little drop counts and children are learning how to do their part. Saying that it can be tackled only at a deeper level is not just.
Amanda Abela
May 11th 2008, 21:35
Finally, enviromental concerns are becoming implemented in schools. Is a great idea, well done to the organizers. I do agree with Mr Fenech, these should be done on a daily basis.
Re Mr Farrugia comment, I would love to know what other measures can be taken to improve our environment....
Education is an influential link to social behaviour, if we don't start educating people from a young age, will never appreciate our environment.
Im quite concern to see, an opinion like yours Mr Farrugia, when you should be the educator....
mario camenzuli
May 11th 2008, 10:13
Thank you Mr. Farrugia for your encouraging comment. Unfortunately , as one of the persons behind the activity, I cannot come to a similar conclusion as yours before the whole exercise is complete.
Paul Pace
May 11th 2008, 01:45
As an educator I learned not to judge anything that my students do as stupid or worthless, but rather to explore (with them) their actions at a deeper level. This is exactly what these schools will be doing in the coming days, i.e. looking at the impact of their 'symbolic' action and translating it into everyday action.
john fenech
May 9th 2008, 23:39
Mr Farrugia I feel humbled by your vision maybe you can impart your knowledge to these students so they will tackle the problem from a deeper level. As an educator don’t you think that there is a better way to support the students? Like for instance encourage them to apply this exercise to their daily lifestyle? What we sow today we will reap tomorrow.
Ben Dover
May 9th 2008, 23:29
As a headmaster I stand by this educational initiative. Yes this problem must be solved at a deeper level but where do we start? Is it not of the utmost importance to educate the next generation on matters that concern that concern their future? I believe that symbolic measures like this could only have a positive effect.
Franco Farrugia
May 9th 2008, 20:03
In my opinion, as an educator, it's a stupid exercise - worthless, and merely a symbolic gesture.
The problem can be tackled only at a deeper level.
john fenech
May 9th 2008, 19:08
Well done keep it up. How about setting a time table to establish the activity on a daily basis.