As you may be aware, Eco-Schools is called Green-Schools in Ireland and schools participating in the programme are introduced to environmental themes on a phased basis. Schools are encouraged to focus on one theme in depth, rather than trying to address a wide range of environmental topics in less detail. Only when schools have been awarded the Green Flag are they permitted to introduce a new theme to their respective programmes.
   
To date, schools initially address Litter and Waste issues and are awarded their first Green Flag on this basis. Next, they introduce Energy and subsequently Water to their programmes, and now for the first time schools in Ireland will be able to move on to address Travel issues associated with their school.
   
Green-Schools Travel aims to reduce the number of car trips made by parents, staff and students, to and from school. By doing this, schools will reduce their impact on the environment, improve safety on the school journey; improve the health of the student body; broaden education while linking to the Irish curricula; combat social exclusion and contribute to sustainable development.
   
Over the past fifteen years the number of Irish children being driven to school has more than doubled (42% in 2002) and over the same period the number of Irish children walking and cycling to school has dropped dramatically (25% and 2% respectively).
   
The consequences of such high car dependency for school travel in Ireland are widespread. Traffic congestion is most obvious. However there is also negative health, safety, environmental and social impacts to consider.
   
One in five Irish children is overweight due to poor diets and a lack of regular exercise. Emissions from road traffic are the primary threat to the quality of air in Ireland. Passengers in slow moving traffic, especially children, are exposed to pollution levels two to three times higher than pedestrians. Increased traffic and traffic congestion has contributed to more road related accidents. Growth in car use to and from school has led to social exclusion and reduced community relations among parents and children.
   
However, most pupils in Ireland live within walking and cycling distance of their school. Therefore there are significant opportunities to redress the trend of car use on the school run and we are aiming to do this through Green-Schools Travel.
   
Modal shift from car use on the school run will be achieved through promotion and adoption of various soft measures, including; walking, cycling, carpooling, multi-modal and public transport initiatives. Schools will be able to achieve their goals by developing, implementing and maintaining School Travel Action Plans through the seven steps of Green-Schools.
   
The Travel theme will initially run on a two year pilot basis in the Greater Dublin Area. It will involve a total of thirty selected schools across this geographical area. This pilot study is supported by the Dublin Transportation Office which is responsible for coordinating and implementing an integrated transport strategy for the Dublin region. On the successful completion of the pilot Travel programme, it is envisaged that the scheme will extend to the national network of participating Green-Schools in Ireland.

(January 2006)

   
The Irish Green-Schools programme which is coordinated in Ireland by An Taisce continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. 261 schools received their first Green-Flags at 18 award ceremonies at An Taisce's headquarters in The Tailors' Hall in Dublin during March and May 2005. This brings the number of Green-Flags in Ireland to 651. This represents over 17% of all primary, secondary and special schools in Ireland.

  
Along with the schools that received their first green flags, 105 schools renewed their flags for the 1st time, 41 renewed for the 2nd time and 13 renewed for the 3rd time. At present there are over 2000 Irish primary, secondary and special schools participating in the programme. This represents over 50% of all schools in Ireland!
   

The green flags were presented by a number of government ministers, politicians and celebrities at the various award ceremonies. Among them was the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Dick Roche TD, and the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Batt O' Keeffe TD, both of whom were very impressed with the work of the teachers and students involved in the Green Schools Programme. Feedback from the hundreds of students and teachers that attended the award ceremonies is that everyone had a great day out, and that it was a day to remember.
   
In 2000-2001 a research programme on the impact of Green Schools in Ireland revealed that Irish schools that complete the Green Schools Programme were diverting on average 45% of their waste from landfill. Recent updating and continuation of this research indicates that the awarded schools have improved their performance and are now on average diverting over 60% of their waste from landfill. Out of a sample of 79 schools over 10% (8 schools) were diverting over 90% of their waste from landfill. Calculations would indicate that around 5 tonnes of waste is directly diverted from landfills in Ireland due to the work of green schools. This is a truly amazing achievement.

(June 2005)

   
The last school year (September 2003-June 2004) for Green-Schools in Ireland was it's most successful to date. By the end of the school year 1,667 primary, secondary and special schools in Ireland were registered for the programme. This represents over 42% of all schools in Ireland and is an increase of 285 schools during the year. 435 schools have now achieved their Green-Flag. This is an increase of 167 new flags for the year. Already, with just three weeks of new school year gone 6 schools have applied for the flag and 40 have registered for the programme! So the coming year looks like it will be another incredibly successful year. The 167 new Green-Flags along with 77 renewals were awarded at 10 award ceremonies during March and May 2004 at An Taisce's headquarters, Tailors' Hall in Dublin. Flags were presented to the schools by a number of dignitaries including government ministers, members of the Irish parliament, members of the European parliament and Irish television celebrities. These award ceremonies received a lot of national publicity and further publicity was gained at local flag raising ceremonies. All in all the Green-Flag has now become a very well established and recognised eco-label in Ireland. At an international level the Irish Green-Schools programme continued to make an impact.
   
In April 2004 the Eco-Schools programme in Ireland (i.e. Green-Schools) was show cased as 'the best of best practice' of education for sustainable development at the 12th Commission on Sustainable Development at the United Nations in New York. Patricia Oliver, Director of the Environmental Education Unit, An Taisce and Dr. Michael John O' Mahony, Green-Schools Development Officer made presentations on the international, national and local operation and impact of the programme. The presentations were made on behalf of An Taisce (FEE member for Ireland), FEE and the Irish presidency of the EU. The presentations outlined the development and operation of FEE, initial piloting and development of the Eco-Schools programme in Europe and operation, partnerships and impact of the programme in Ireland. Feedback from the presentations was excellent and a number of good contacts were made.
   
In May 2004, students from 4 Green-Schools (St. Oliver Plunkett N.S., Malahide; St. Patrick's B.N.S., Donabate; St Margaret's N.S., St. Margaret's; and Bayside Senior School, Bayside), in Dublin made a number of presentations to the EU Commissioner for the Environment, Margot Wallstrom and a large audience of dignitaries and delegates including Yolande Kakabadse, President of the IUCN/The World Conservation and the Irish Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The goal of Countdown 2010 is to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010. Several of the students made statements on how they were reducing their impact on the environment and also their impact on biodiversity by undertaking the Green-Schools programme. Other students presented the dignitaries with clocks to help them with the official countdown. The commissioner thanked the students for their contributions and complimented them on their outstanding work.
   
In July 2004, with the financial support of An Taisce and the school's Board of Management, three students Gráinne de Bhuilde, Banbha Nic Canna and Caoilfhionn Nic Conmara and their teacher, Fiona Ui Uiginn from Colaiste Iosagain, Dublin went to the International Seminar on Green Schools in China and Teenagers Forum on the Environment in Taizhou, Zhejiang, China. The students made a presentation to an audience of Chinese Local Government officials, students from local schools and delegates from Sweden, South Africa, Germany on the operation in Ireland and how the programme is operated within their schools. Finally, water will be introduced as a Green-Schools theme in Ireland during the coming school year. Materials have been developed and will be printed shortly and distributed to schools. After water, the transport theme will be introduced. The theme is currently being researched and it appears that it will be a challenging but exciting theme. Think about this for a second. During the school year on any given school day in the greater Dublin area (pop. 1.14 million) 64,000 car journeys are associated with schools.

(September 2004)

   
The 2003 Eco-Schools International Conference and meeting of Programme Coordinators was held between December 4 and 6 in Dublin, Ireland. The event was the most international yet, with Programme Coordinators from 22 of the 28 countries where Eco-Schools programmes are either being run or piloted - delegates came from as far away as Russia and Portugal, Norway and South Africa, Iceland and Chile. This year’s annual event was held with the kind support of the Irish Ministry of Environment, and was hosted by An Taisce, FEE Member for Ireland, which runs the very successful Green Schools (Eco- Schools in Ireland) programme in that country.
   
This annual event is a great opportunity not only to set the work agenda for the international programme, but also to liaise with other programme coordinators, share and learn project experiences, set up side projects, display resources, etc. - one of the many benefits of the Eco-Schools international network. Following visits by delegates to selected Irish Green Schools, the more formal event started with a conference where leading academics from Dublin, a representative of the Minister of Environment, the Chairperson from An Taisce, FEE Executive Board Member and Eco-Schools international coordinator took the floor. Also, the Director of UNEP’s Division of Environmental Policy Implementation spoke about UNEP’s role in environment and sustainable development issues globally, the support to the programme, and launched the "Water World" book (see last month’s newsletter).
   
Workshops were held with the international programme delegates and participants, such as from Municipalities. Among the topics were:
- Developments in Eco-Schools Methodology;
- Eco-Schools as a precursor to Local Agenda 21;
- International or Regional Events and Competitions.
   
Some of the proposed recommendations from these workshops are already underway, such as the setting up of the International Eco-Code competition (in this newsletter) and plans for a major Eco-Schools multi-sector conference event later in the year, in celebration of the programme’s 10th year anniversary. In the finest Irish tradition, the hosts kindly took delegates for a tour of Dublin, including the Guinness museum, and treated all to a wonderful evening of good food, live traditional Irish music and lots of dancing. A formidable event, professionally and socially.

(January 2004)

   
The international meeting of Eco-Schools National Programme Managers will this year take place in Dublin, Ireland, and is expected to bring together the most programme Representatives ever. The annual meeting is co-organised by the Eco-Schools International Coordination and An Taisce - National Trust for Ireland (FEE Member for Ireland), which is hosting the event in Dublin with the kind support of the Irish Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
   
In addition to addressing formal issues on the development of the programme, the meetings provide the opportunity for delegates to share experiences, discuss common projects, organise regional events, etc. It is an integral part of the networking activities of the Eco-Schools programme. This year, programme representatives from as many as 27 countries may participate, as well as special invited guests.
   
In Ireland, Eco-Schools is known as "Green Schools", and is among the largest programmes in the network, with about 1500 participating schools, almost 300 of which have been awarded the Green Flag. For more information on An Taisce and the Eco-Schools programme in Ireland (Green Schools), visit www.antaisce.org For a list of the FEE Member organisations implementing the Eco-Schools programme in different countries, visit the Eco-Schools international website, www.eco-schools.org

(October 2003)

Continuing Green-Schools Success in Ireland

   
Green-Schools in Ireland continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. There are now 1,400 schools registered in the programme, representing 35% of all Irish schools. During this last school year 116 schools received the Green Flag for the first time, and 60 schools renewed their flags, importantly 14 renewed for the second time, showing how these schools have sustained and developed their programmes since they were first awarded in 1998. The total number of awarded schools is now 268, of which 224 are primary schools, 42 secondary schools, 1 is a special school and 1 a Montessori school. These new Green Flags were awarded at a series of award ceremonies at An Taisce’s national headquarters at Tailors’ Hall in Dublin. Two ceremonies were held in February, and a further eight ceremonies were held during May. Various Government ministers, politicians and national celebrities presented the Green Flags. All this, of course, led to a huge number of local flag raising ceremonies being held around the country, with, in some cases the Green Flag being raised by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese.
   
This massive success has led to an increase in workload, and plans are already in place to continue the development of the programme. These plans include strengthening the existing excellent partnership with the Local Authorities, a large number of county based teacher training seminars and workshops, and review and updating of the teacher materials. In addition, we are developing training programmes for applicable volunteers to help manage the assessment burden and maintain the existing high standards needed to attain the Green Flag.

(June 2003)

   
The fourth International Children’s Conference on the Environment was recently held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in co-operation with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
   
400 child delegates and over 250 adult delegates from 59 countries attended the conference. The main aims of the conference were to increase children’s understanding of environmental issues, to encourage new ideas and initiatives for improving the environment, to give children a chance to collectively voice their concerns about the environment, to inspire children to act locally and think globally and most importantly to have fun and make new friends.
   
In light of the recent partnership between the Eco-Schools programme and the United Nations Environmental Programme a series of three, two-hour seminars-workshops (2 adult, 1 children) titled ‘The Eco-Schools Approach and Environmental Education for Sustainable Development’ were presented at the conference. These presentations were given by Michael John O’Mahony from the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce (Irish FEE member) on 22^nd, 23^rd and 24^th May.
   
Around 60 adult delegates from Canada, the United States, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Korea, Trinidad, Jamaica, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Iran, Iceland, Bermuda, India, New Zealand, Qatar, Thailand, Uganda, Brazil, Belgium and Paraguay attended the adult workshops-seminars. The workshop-seminar covered the following areas; the Foundation for Environmental Education - who are they?, what do they do?, the Eco-Schools-UNEP partnership, what is Eco-Schools?, the European Eco-Schools network, the Irish Eco-Schools Programme, Partners in the Eco-Schools programme, themes and phases of the programme, the seven steps, making the difference-results from recent research. The seminar-workshop also included a discussion and question and answer session. The main discussion points of these sessions were; the importance of involving and motivating principal teachers, the importance of having partnerships and working networks between national government, local government, an environmental non-government organisation, sponsors and industry to implement the programme properly at a national level and the need for long-term, well trained staff to co-ordinate the programme at the national level. A number of countries had environmental education programmes very similar to Eco-Schools. This was particularly the case for Uganda in Africa and Nova Scotia in Canada.
   
Around 20 child delegates from Australia, Kenya, China, Canada, Qatar, Morocco and Bangladesh attended the children’s seminar-workshop. In this session the child delegates were introduced to the seven steps of the Eco-Schools programme. The group then formed the first global Eco-Schools committee and went about applying the seven steps of the programme to dealing with the waste produced from the nutrition break during the workshop. The group drew up an action plan, which was a combination of reduction, reuse and recycling of the waste materials. One of the most interesting aspects of the session was the suggestion by the child delegates to involve national and international sport-stars in the promotion of the programme around the world. In fact the delegates got so involved in the programme that after the workshop they wanted to know when the next global Eco-schools committee meeting would be? Overall the responses from both adult and child delegates were very positive to the Eco-Schools programme and it looks like a very bright global future for the programme.

(May 2002)

   
On the 12^th of February 2002 An Taisce launched their “Green-Schools Ireland” video. The video was launched by an Irish Nature Artist/T.V. personality and was attended by the video production company, sponsors, An Taisce members, municipality officers and over one hundred teachers and students from Irish Eco-Schools. The first screening of the video was very well received by its young audience and the day proved to be a great success.
   
The video is designed as a tool to encourage schools to pursue the Green Flag, the video shows students following the programme, the highs and lows experienced throughout their journey towards the coveted Green-Flag and how their schools and local communities have greatly benefited from the programme. There are three schools featured in the video and each is very different from the other. This shows the flexibility of the Eco-Schools programme and how it can be adopted into different situations. An Taisce will be circulating a copy of the video to each national operator in the near future.
   
Along with the video launch, 12 schools were awarded the Green-Flag for their work in reducing their schools waste and litter. This brings the number of awarded schools in Ireland to 108.

(February 2002)

An Taisce Strategy for 2001/02

   
Ireland has been planning their strategy for the coming year. They are planning to launch the "Energy" theme in the 100 Irish schools that have achieved the green flag. They are also planning a mail-out of the Green Schools video to all schools in Ireland not yet in the programme (3.120) and also to the 780 green schools, which have not yet achieved the flag. Their targets for this year are to increase registrations to 1.000 and awarded flags to 200, and they hope not only to achieve but also break them.

(September 2001)

   
Over 600 students took part in the survey designed to measure the social impact of the Green Schools programme. Primary school students from 5^th and 6^th classes in both Green-Schools and non-Green-Schools responded to questions designed to assess their knowledge and awareness of environmental issues and their leadership traits and behaviour with respect to the environment.
   
A 50% reduction in waste has been achieved by schools in An Taisces’ Green-Schools project, it has been announced. Students involved in the programme are also more likely to translate their concern for the environment into positive behaviour. Green-Schools students drop less litter, are more involved in local environmental projects, conserve water and energy more and are more likely to think about the environment when making a purchase. These are the results coming from the two research projects undertaken by An Taisce into the effects of their Green Schools programme. Students cited Litter as their top concern with lack of an environmentally friendly culture within Ireland’ as their second highest concern.
   
Green-Schools Research Highlights
   
When it comes to diversion of waste from landfill Green-Schools are showing an average reduction of 45% waste to landfill. Schools that have just started the Green-Schools programme are on average sending ~53g of waste per person per day to landfill. For schools that are half way through the programme the average is ~ 37g per person per day, while within awarded Green-Schools the average ~ 29g per person per day. However, some Green-Schools are producing as little as 2g per person per day.
   
When Irish primary school students from schools that have completed the Green-Schools programme are compared with students from primary schools that have never undertaken the programme for their levels of environmental awareness, behaviour, opinion leadership and a number of related topics the following results are apparent.
* Awareness levels about environmental issues among both types of students are very similar.
* When it comes to positive behaviour towards the environment, students within the awarded Green-Schools are less likely to drop less litter while being more likely to participate in local environment projects, conserve water, energy and think about the environment when making a purchase.
* Green-Schools students discuss the environment and associated issues in more settings, more often. Discussion within the classroom setting is particularly high among Green-Schools students. Furthermore, Green-Schools students generally encourage others to be environmentally friendly more than their Non-Green School counterparts. In essence the Green-Schools students are better environmental opinion leaders.
* Green-Schools students feel that environmental problems are an urgent problem whereas Non-Green-Schools students consider these to be more of a problem for the future.
* Green-School students identify teachers as the main source of information on the environment. Among Non-Green-Schools students television and radio is the main source of this information.
* Recycling levels of glass, paper/cardboard and aluminium along with levels of home composting are higher within the homes of Green-Schools students than within the homes of Non-Green-Schools students.
* 91% of students within Non-Green-Schools felt that they could do something about the state of the environment. This number was even higher among Green-Schools students at 96%.
* The main environmental concern indicated by both Green-Schools and Non-Green-Schools students was litter. This was followed among Green-Schools students by the lack of an environmentally friendly culture in Ireland and among Non-Green-Schools students by the lack of recycling facilities in Ireland.
* The current work has revealed a moderate positive relationship between behaviour towards the environment and opinion leadership (discussion and encouragement) among both Green-Schools and Non-Green-Schools students.
* The current study indicates that awareness levels do not directly impact behaviour towards the environment.

   
For more information on Green-Schools Research contact:
Dr. Michael John O' Mahony (greenschools@antaisce.org),
Green-Schools Development Officer, An Taisce

(July 2001)

   
Forty six schools from twenty counties were awarded the prestigious Green Flag by An Taisce, on the 30^th May. The flags were presented to the schools by the Minister for Education and Science, Dr. Michael Woods, T.D. This brought the total number of Green Flags awarded in Ireland to 97, doubling the number of successful schools since the programme began four years ago. Of the total number of schools awarded the Green Flag, 77 are primary schools and 20 are secondary schools. This reflects the growth in the number of Irish schools joining the Green Schools campaign. Over 850 schools are now taking part, making it one of the fastest growing environmental projects in Europe.

(June 2001)