^{Passionate about spreading the message}

All Saints Primary School Liverpool Principal Rose-Marie Hoekstra describes her journey towards environmental sustainability as a “conversion", which has left her with a passionate desire to “leave a gift for those who come after me, particularly the children”, writes NSW/ACT IEU Journalist Sue OSBORNE.

About three years ago Rose-Marie decided to embark on a process inspired by the Sydney CEO’s School Review and Improvement Framework, point 5.3 Environmental Stewardship, and the publication On Holy Ground by Catholic Earthcare.

It was decided to carry out an environmental audit at the school, looking at water and energy use, carbon emissions, solid waste production, transport, biodiversity on the school grounds and environmental education.

The process took a year to complete, using in-house resources and outside consultants Carbon Planet and Todae.

Rose-Marie describes the process as a “road to Damascus” which has left her passionate about the need to address climate change.

Classroom HERO

Following the audit, the school embarked on a series on changes, including installing $80,000 worth of solar panels, fixing taps, planting a native garden, changing light bulbs, ensuring electrical equipment is turned off when possible, recycling and installing a small pond.

In the classroom, the children are taught about the environment, and each class has its own HERO (Heating, Electrical, Recycling Officers) on a
roster basis.

An Environmental Footprint Report and Recommendations was published, including a Code of an Environmentally Friendly Class, with guidelines on water, and electricity use and tips on minimising waste in class.

“We want to make it part of the conversation in all KLAs,” says
Rose-Marie.

Classroom teacher Alice Gobeli says classes now compete with each other to see who can use air conditioning
the least.

Rose-Marie is committed to spreading the message, and as well as hosting a workshop at the IEU’s Educating for Sustainability Conference, she organised a Regional Primary Students Sustainable School Conference for schools in the Liverpool area.

“I’ve realised my responsibility is way beyond just measuring and managing,” she says.

Gift for the future

“It has to do with my relationship to God and creation. I realised how blessed I’ve been to live in a world which is full of beauty and rich natural history, in
an environment where you can still
see wildlife.

“I realised unless we as a people — by that I mean people of the earth — learn to control our need for more (our rates of consumption) much of this will disappear.

“My anxiety is that children who come after me will not have the enjoyment, will not have the experience of looking at the world with the eyes that I have looked at it.

“I’m quite passionate about this because I’m a spiritually religious person. I believe everything I’ve been given is from God and I in turn need to give a gift back to God and leave a gift to those that come after me, particularly the children.”

She says an old phrase ‘Live simply so others can simply live’ is something we should all heed.

“I want this school to be carbon neutral as a sign that our impact on the environment is zero."

Having the conversation

“I hope the conversion that happened to me when I started to do this will happen at the children’s level, at the teachers’ level, at the parents’ level and through other schools and the CEO.”

Alice agrees and says sustainability is an important aspect of her life as she grew up on a farm.

“I knew about conserving water a long time ago when I was pumping out of the well,” she says.

“Water is such an important part of life and in the city it can be just taken for granted, so I really like helping children understand where water comes from and what it means to people around the world.

“I just like talking to children about the environment and making them aware how their lives impact on other people’s around the world.”

Fellow classroom teacher Karen Roach says the school was trying to integrate the environment into every KLA.

“In the classroom we try to minimise waste and re-use things. For art we use all natural products.

“We have trialled the waste free lunch where kids bring in re-usable lunch boxes and bottles, and no wrappers, foil or plastic. This has meant less rubbish in the playground.

“A lot of kids have taken these points home and are recycling at home.”

Karen says the children were “falling in love with’’ the environment.

You can find out more about All Saints’ journey when Rose-Marie hosts a workshop on it at the IEU Educating for Sustainability Conference at the Mercure Hotel, Sydney on 23 October.