Enviroschools Conference.

You may have noticed that I was posting very frequently for a few weeks there, but now have slowed down again. I have decided to return to a once a week schedule, just so you know.

This was the second week of the school holidays, but I spent most of it in Professional Development, including the National Enviroschools Conference on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It was an amazing three days of inspiration, collaboration, and beauty, and I am so glad I went!

My kindergarten is an Enviroschool, and we do all kinds of wonderful things under that umbrella, but I didn't know much about the wider organization until this conference.

Here is a bit about Enviroschools from their website:

The Enviroschools Foundation is a not-for-profit trust that supports children and young people to be active citizens, contributing to ecological regeneration and the creation of healthy, resilient and sustainable communities.
As an independent organisation we ensure continuous support for young people participating in environmental sustainability, regardless of changing political priorities.
We have a network that reaches 240,000 children and young people through 30% of New Zealand’s schools/kura, with a growing participation from the early childhood sector. Overall, we have an estimated reach of 1 million people nationwide. We work through two programme areas:
Enviroschools: an action-based approach to education through which children and young people plan, design and implement sustainable projects and become catalysts for change in their families and the wider community.
Te Aho Tū Roa: working in te reo Māori immersion contexts with tamariki (children) and rangatahi (youth), whānau (familes), hapū (subtribes) and iwi (tribes).

Sounds cool, right? Well, it is. Enviroschools partners with schools/ECE centres and provides them with information, support, resources, and connections to facilitate their ability to incorporate sustainability into their curricula, and to make their practices more environmentally conscious.

As the website explains:

"Through exploration and discovery, tamariki (children) and students develop learning and language, care and creativity, relationships and responsibilities suited to their developmental stage. What emerges is a connection with nature and a sense of belonging to the environment and community.
Through these connections with the environment tamariki and students can consider the world we are a part of, and look to how we make decisions to improve the physical and social environment of our places, our community and our world."

I love Enviroschools, and find that it fits my philosophy perfectly. As I mentioned when I wrote about the children cutting my hair for Locks of Love, I believe that children need to learn that they are agents of change, and be empowered to understand that their choices make an impact on the broader world, and therefore to take responsibility for doing whatever is in their power to make it better. Enviroschools is a wonderful way to do this. Take that, and add the fact that the focus is one helping our planet be healthy, and its just about perfect. Also, Enviroschools has a strong emphasis on Māori worldview and bicultural practice, so it all fits together beautifully.

During the conference, I learned approximately a million things about conservation, the Enviroschools program, curriculum tools, etc., and I met a lot of people who are as passionate about this stuff as I am. I want to go to every conference they ever host!

Around the country, schools/centres are engaging in environmental projects like:

• cleaning up waterways
• planting fruit orchards (we have just done this)
• worm farms (we have these)
• X-treme Zero Waste campaigns
• doing energy audits on their buildings
• recycling used paper into paper bricks for burning in wood stoves
• installing rain harvesting systems with water tanks (we're working on this)
• building ultra energy efficient buildings (look for a post on this soon)
• composting systems (we have one)
• growing their own food (we do a bit of this)
• planting native plant gardens/areas (we did this on our trolly track)
• developing programs to facilitate children/students commuting on foot/by bicycle
• starting "Trading Tables" to encourage sharing and reusing resources (we have one)
• re-establishing natural marshlands and other important habitats
• recycling cell phones and other hazardous material

Around the country, schools/centres are incorporating bicultural sustainability into their curricula through:

• involving the children as much as possible in the above projects - from planning to digging to painting to fundraising (depending on their age)
• investigating all the steps/resources that go into making things we use (spoiler alert: A LOT)
• spending time in local reserves or natural places, especially those that are sacred in Māori culture
• using traditional waiata (songs) about the natural world (there are some gorgeous ones)
• teaching the children about the ātua (Gods) of each part of the natural world, and engaging with them to foster respect and admiration for the healthy power and balance of the environment (look for a post on this soon)
• using natural materials for artwork and toys
• learning about how to protect native animals/plants
• facilitation children's appreciation of natural beauty through photography (we have a great digital camera solely for the children's use)
• creating Bug Hotels to foster caring and fascination (instead of fear) towards insects (I built one of these - still should post about it sometime, aye?)
• creating ephemeral (transient) artwork with natural materials (e.g. shells, leaves, driftwood, sand), supporting children in appreciating the gifts of the ātua (Gods) 
• building relationships with Māori elders and working with them to support traditional environmental practices
• Here is an example of something an ECE centre did: http://www.enviroschools.org.nz/Little_Earth_Enviro_page.pdf

I'm not feeling particularly pleased with these lists, because I don't feel that they capture the amazing depth and breadth of what is going on within these schools/centres all over the country. Remember, please, that all of this is done during the school year, and having to compete with all the other things that are supposed to be being drilled into these children's heads. But over 30% of schools/centres in NZ have decided that despite having too much on their plates already, they are going to take on the challenge of creating schools/centres and children/students that are better for the environment. That's amazing and inspiring to me!

For more information about Enviroschools, go to their website at http://www.enviroschools.org.nz/enviroschools-programme