Kids News Network

KNN Enviro Award - Weetangera Primary School Canberra Australia

The inaugural Enviro Award went to Weetangera School Canberra.

Clean Up Australia sent "A big thank you to students at Weetangera School, Canberra, ACT for their generous donation! The students raised the money by selling home made cup cakes at the school fete."

This is not all that this school is doing to help our beautiful environment. The school is promoting environmental awareness and establishing green practices within the whole school.

Some of what they are doing includes:

the sustainable schools program - being an “energy wise”school
adopting “water wise” strategies
participating in Clean Up Australia Day
created ecological outside teaching area
participating in “green” initiatives such as “Tree Day”, “Green voucher” for a water tank
recycling
collecting food scraps for composting
promoting a litter free environment
student environmental schemes are recognised through certificates and Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone at WEETANGERA SCHOOL

Weetangera School currently has 413 students enrolled from preschool to Year 6. The fully integrated Autism specific Support Unit, is currently fully enrolled with 6 students.

Environment - what kids are doing

Alastair, Freya and Imogen co-founded Planet Patrol which is written both BY kids FOR kids. "We set up 'Planet Patrol' because we believe that kids really aren't getting enough info on the environment. Without that information, they can't make good choices about the environment and we need kids to be making good choices as this will affect the health of our planet." Imogen. They have many articles on the environment, facts and fun, games and news.

PACCIFY - Program for Awareness on Climate Change Featuring the Youth an Indian idea " to involve students and teachers in an awareness campaign on climate change and sensitize them on issues like global warming, sea-level rise, desertification, deforestation, consumerism, industrialization, depletion of energy resources etc."

Kids care about the environment.

Suggestions:

use recycled photo copy paper if you do need to print out homework, from Lara
plant seeds that only need a little water, from Luke
turn off electrical equipment like the T.V. and toaster at the wall, from Sarah
help others understand the importance of recycling, from Morgan
make sure everyone in your house understands what does go in the recycling bin, from Scott

What Schools are doing for the environment

No waste Tuesday A school in Australia has one day a week when there is no waste in anyones lunch box - students or teachers. Points are given to the class with the least waste. If waste is taken to school it has to be taken home! Does your school do anything like this?

Fruit scraps are recycled Also from Sydney Australia a school where kids are bringing fruit for recess and composting all the scraps into their worm farm. This compost is eventually put on the vege patch. Each class has it's own garden where they learn more cool stuff about being eco friendly.

Good News for the Environment in A.C.T.Australia

Burgmann Anglican School in Gungahlin is trying out many ideas to help the environment - energy efficient lights, recycled building materials, rainwater tanks and use of natural light.' Go to ABC Canberra site for the full story of what the school is acheiving.

What about kids from other countries? What are you doing at your school for the environment? You can post your schools name and your nickname or first name if you like.

Outer space is our Environment too...

The Earth seen in outer space created with 3Ds max by Rrinsindika Wikimedia Commons

Check out NASA Kid's Club it has science and math interactives, graded to age, from kindergarten to adult.

Visit Kids News Network Australia's blog for more environment news

Environment news

Land to be saved for the animals in Florida, U.S.A. In Tallahassee,"thousands of acres of wilderness inhabited by bears, panthers & other species were handed over to the state". SOURCE Associated Press

New Coral Reef A new reef has been discovered off the coast of Thailand. It is home to over 100 different types of fish and over 30 types of coral.

Faster help for coral reefs. Scientists from around the world have set up a pilot programme for a digital sensor network that will collect information from reefs much quicker than before.

An electric car has been built that has beaten a Ferrari in an 8 mile sprint on a race track. The X1 built by New Zealander, Ian Wright, with it's quarter ton of batteries, will soon be made for the road at a cost of about $100,000 US.

An enviromently friendly car has been designed and built in Austria. It runs on compressed natural gas and looks like a racing car. The Mila made by the Magna Steyr will be available and ready for the road in 2007 at a price of 55 thousand U.S. dollars. To see what it looks like go to "Photos" at left and click on the "cool" album.

Tell us your good news. Have your say by going to the blog and posting a comment.