The 5th National Training Seminar for Eco-Schools Coordinator Teachers was held on 1-3 December 2004 in Istanbul, Turkey. It was organized for 85 coordinator teachers, and 88 teachers from 12 cities and 81 schools attended the seminar. Besides teachers, there were attendees from Governmental (Ministry of Environment and Forestry) and Non-Governmental Organizations such as Greenpeace, Doga Dernegi, Eurosolar Turkey, as well as the National Environment and Development Programme Deputy. The venue for the seminar was arranged with the help of Marmara Education College (Marmara Egitim Koleji), a school registered with our project, and the Heinrich Böll Foundation, one of our supporters. After the opening ceremony, Ms. N. Burcu Manav, former National Operator of Eco-Schools Project in Turkey, gave a presentation on Eco-Schools Project including the aim of the project, definitions, steps, dimension, targets for Turkey, and suggestions for success. Through those explanations, the philosophy of the project was given to the participants. After this general information, in order to be able to create more concrete ideas on the project, international case studies were presented by N. Burcu Manav also. For the seminar, we chose popular subjects from current events. These were; Climate Change, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), Renewable Energy Systems, Recycling and the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE). These presentations were done by the experts on the subjects. The aim of this panel was to let teachers see environmental issues on a global scale. After the presentation of international case studies, national ones were presented, and the oldest schools told about their best practices. Those presentations were appreciated by the presenting teachers since they had the chance to share what they had done through the project, and by audience since they could see what more they can do. As a consequence, we managed to present the main principles of the Eco-Schools Project, make teachers think more expansively by using international case studies, have teachers share their ideas and experiences and see the environmental issues without borders.
The Eco-Schools Meeting in Eskisehir was held on December 27th, 2004. 19 schools attended the meeting, as well as Dr. M. Tacettin Sagiroglu, the Mayor of Tepebasi Municipality and Mr. Koray Kok, from the Environmental Management Department. After the presentation about the Eco-Schools programme, Mr. Erol Scott from Greenpeace made a presentation to the students about environmental problems. After the meeting, we went to visit some of the schools in Eskisehir in order to share their requests, expectations and also the questions. Some of them wanted to know about the "Linking Schools Project" and wanted to get in contact with other schools around the world.
   
For more information: Ms Sezil Özkoca (sezil@turcev.org.tr), Eco-Schools National Coordinator, Türkiye Çevre Egitim Vakfi (Turkey)

   
The national co-ordination Eco-school as a way of life and the ecological centre Prekmurje prepared an exhibition of art work that entered the competition Time before New Year's in the hall of the shopping centre BTC in Murska Sobota. Awards and prizes to authors of the best work were conferred at the same time. With the competition the national co-ordination wants to strengthen the ecological knowledge among young people, stimulate creativity and artistic expression of young people. 113 elementary schools and 9 secondary schools from all over Slovenia sent their best work portraying the theme Time before New Year's with ecological contents. 860 art works in any form and size with information about the author entered the competition. The committee of experts chose 12 out of the 860 sent art works. These 12 will be used as Christmas and New Year's cards for the Eco-schools of Slovenia. The theatre group MI from the eco-school OŠ France Prešeren performed at the final event in Murska Sobota where the prizes were awarded. Work of 76 school that were in the final selection, including the 12 selected art works, will be exhibited in Murska Sobota until 5th of January 2005. An electronic 3D-album as an electronic catalogue of the exhibited art work was issued on CD-ROM and put on the internet, as well. This was financed by the community Mestna obcina Murska Sobota as part of the open tender for the implementation of cultural program.
   
For more information: Ms Nada Pavšer (nada.pavser@guest.arnes.si), Eco-Schools National Coordinator, DOVES - Društvo za Okoljevarstveno Vzgojo v Sloveniji (Slovenia)

   
During 2004 over 300 South African schools registered with the WESSA WWF-SA Eco-Schools programme supported by Nampak. By the end of October many of these schools submitted a portfolio that documented the change that had taken place over the year in their schools. Lesson plans and photographs are key parts of these portfolios. Following careful assessment by Eco-School teams around the country, 123 schools earned their green flags. Of these, 23 are particularly special Eco-Schools as they had already earned their flags in 2003. Through continued environmental efforts, they have earned a 2004 certificate and the right to continue flying their Eco-School flag. There are 100 new Eco-Schools in SA.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are Jokwana Junior Secondary Eco-School motto. During this year I have found that I have an important role to play… the outings and projects gave me an insight of how important it is that we view the future of our earth in a serious way. We cannot just waste water or electricity and throw our rubbish around. … Next year I will be in secondary school and I hope to also motivate my fellow students to form part of this great project". - From Victoria Jacobs, Grade 7 learner, Kerria Primary School, Atlantis, at the ceremony on 1 December in which her school was awarded their Eco-School flag.
   
For more information: Ms Kim Ward (kim@futurenet.co.za), WESSA - Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa

   
The Annual Awards Ceremony for the Eco-Schools Programme took place on Saturday, December 3rd, in the City of Athens' Cultural Centre. Overall 18 schools were awarded with the Eco-Schools flag and 15 more were re-awarded. Among the participants of this event was Mr. George Kalos, Deputy Minister of National Education. Mr. Kalos distributed himself the Eco-Schools Flags, Award certificates, and other gifts by the National Operator, to the Environmental school Teams. The Minister, in his opening speech stated that environmental education is a top priority in his Ministry's agenda, and that he personally is very appreciative of the role and the contribution of NGOs on this issue. All the awarded schools, coming from various parts of Greece, with enthusiasm and pride presented their accomplishments in the Eco-Schools project and became a source of inspiration to their fellow students of other schools, to the teachers, parents, and other guests, and naturally to the Deputy Minister of National Education. After the ceremony, when leaving the City of Athens Cultural Centre, every one of us and especially the children felt content that we all had the opportunity to celebrate environmental education and the Eco-Schools Programme.
   
For more information: Mr Panos Mathioudakis (hspn@hol.gr), HSPN- Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature (Greece)

   
The editorial board of the Gospodarski vestnik magazine encourages the development of environmentally friendly products in Slovenia and draw attention to those companies that have been the most successful in reducing environmental burdens. That is why the Gospodarski vestnik magazine in co-operation with the Ecological Development Fund of the Republic of Slovenia, the public fund, and the Environment Agency of the Republic of Slovenia has been running a competition for the environmental product of the year, the environmentally friendly company and process, and the international environmental partnership for many years. The winners of all four categories then every two years compete for the European Awards for the Environment, awarded by the European Commission – DG Environment.
We are glad to write down that this year together with the Slovenian Eco-Schools project we introduced a new important award that we named the school environmental award. We would be very satisfied if in the future the European Commission, DG Environment, introduced a similar award.
The school environmental award is aimed at encouraging the pupils of primary and secondary schools and their mentors to develop products, projects and research that include ecological use of natural materials (wood, recycled paper, waste glass and similar) or bring creative solutions for waste processing (for example, used batteries or similar) or help provide cleaner environment in any other way.
We are very satisfied with this year's response, as we received as much as 18 entries for the competition. At the end of the action, all the participants were presented in the publication Environment & Energy, the supplement of the Gospodarski vestnik magazine. In our articles, we will try to inform public especially about those school products that could interest producers or help reducing environmental burdens in general.
An expert commission, composed of eight members, assesses all the competitors according to the following five criteria: recognition of the product or research (the use of the product is simple, handy), practical use, potential use in companies (production possibility, existing market, acceptable cost price of the product), actual use (rapid production) and last but not least the innovativeness of the product. The best schools – the Gustav Šilih Primary School from Velenje, awarded for the research on the processing of waste food oil, and the Technical Secondary School from Šiška, awarded for the CO detector – were announced on 25 November, on the occasion of the solemn announcement of the winners. As actually all the pupils that have entered the competition are the winners we have decided that the main award should be shared by all. So, on 22 April next year we will organize a trip for everybody. We will visit the miners' museum in Velenje, and the experts from the ERICo Institute will organize an interesting lecture for the pupils and their mentors.
You might ask yourselves why the Gospodarski vestnik magazine as a business weekly supports school environmental awards. We have decided for the co-operation with the Eco-Schools project simply because we believe in their and our common endeavours. We are convinced that adults much easier embody environmental values if they are introduced and accepted already in the childhood. We also believe that children are the most successful ambassadors of cleaner environment. We share similar ideals in this field with the Eco-School. The Gospodarski vestnik magazine as business media tries to realize these ideals among the business public while the Eco-School tries to do the same among children. We will be very happy if common endeavours will make this two worlds meet more often and maybe even interweave. This is our common goal, our common vision.
   
For more information: Ms Nada Pavšer (nada.pavser@guest.arnes.si), Eco-Schools National Coordinator, DOVES - Društvo za Okoljevarstveno Vzgojo v Sloveniji (Slovenia)

   
At a special event at the Glasgow Science Centre, Scotland, on Friday 5 November, the Scottish Eco Schools team, along with invited guests, celebrated ten years of Eco Schools and the nations 100th awarded Green Flag. The event was hosted by Dougie Vipond, BBC television personality; Kate Campbell, Eco Schools Manager in Scotland and Lewis Foggin, a Primary 7 pupil from the 100th awarded school, Whitelees Primary School from North Lanarkshire. The celebration was attended by almost 200 guests from Green Flag awarded schools, Local Authorities, Non Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), charities and other bodies that support the programme in Scotland.
Guests were welcomed to the IMAX theatre by Emma Campbell, head girl from Currie Community High School in Edinburgh. The screen at the IMAX theatre used was the equivalent height of five double-decker busses! The sheer scale of it allowed three digital projectors to work simultaneously to keep the audience entertained. After weeks of organising, the scene was set for an enjoyable, inspiring and thought provoking morning. The first presentation came from pupils attending a secondary school for young people with moderate learning difficulties, St Joan of Arc School in Glasgow. To start, thirteen of them, along with some of their teachers, entertained the audience with their eco song. Following this, whilst the others listened and watched intently, two pupils (pictured below) guided the audience through a presentation showing the eco work they have done in their school. Unfortunately, the Scottish Minister for the Environment and Rural Affairs cancelled at the last minute so Jan Eriksen, President of FEE, who was visiting Scotland for the event, followed St Joan of Arc’s presentation by accepting the honour of awarding Whitelees Primary School form North Lanarkshire in Central Scotland with the 100th Scottish Eco Schools Green Flag award. To rapturous applause, the eco committee form Whitelees took to the stage to accept their special certificate and flag. They actually gained their award back in June but they have been patiently waiting for five months to fly the flag at their school! Following the Green Flag presentation, two girls and one boy from Whitelees took to the stage to present a hilarious play written to show how eco messages learned in school can be brought home to teach parents and relatives the benefits of being eco friendly. When the play had finished, the three pupils were joined on stage by their classmates to sing their eco song. Their head teacher also joined in by dancing at the back of the theatre to keep them all in time!
Four pupils from the first Green Flag awarded school in Stirling, Gartmore Primary School, followed by conducting a presentation detailing their eco activities. They finished by showing a video of their fellow school-mates doing their eco rap in their different teams covering all seven of the eco topics worked on in Scotland. Mr Eriksen then took to the stage again, this time to describe who FEE are and the international nature of the Eco Schools programme. His presentation was especially welcomed by the representative’s from organisations that support the Eco Schools team in Scotland. Following feedback from delegates, the team in Scotland are now going to look more proactively into expanding international links within the programme. Pupils from Currie Community High School in Edinburgh carried out the last presentation of the morning. The showed the work that they have done in the school and introduced different projects, such as the rotational Education for Sustainable Development course offered to pupils in S1 and S2 as part of the Sustainable Secondary Schools Project (SSSP). Closing the morning celebrations, Lewis Foggin presented Jan Eriksen with a specially engraved traditional Scottish quaich as a mark of thanks for travelling to Scotland for the event. Guests were then invited to stay for lunch then visit some of the attractions, including a climate change show in the Science Centre.
To date, 119 Scottish schools have gained a first Green Flag. Over 1600 schools and nurseries and some 450,000 pupils from Shetland to Dumfries and Galloway are participating in the programme. This represents 50% of all schools and nurseries in Scotland. The programme is still expanding rapidly in Scotland and a busy 2005 is being predicted by the team. Here’s to the 200th, 300th and 400th… Green Flag awarded schools in Scotland!
   
For more information: Mr Jamie Pearson (jamie.pearson@ksbscotland.org.uk), Eco-Schools Information Officer, Keep Scotland Beautiful (Scotland - United Kingdom)

   
On the 8th October 2004 CYMEPA organised a successful Seminar to train 121 Teachers on the management of Solid Waste. The Seminar took place in Limassol and the topics were presented by Dr Michael Ierides, Secretary General of CYMEPA and Herodotos Georgiou, Senior Health Inspector and European Affairs Officer of the Municipality of Limassol. All participants expressed their appreciation for both the organisation of the Seminar and its content.
The Seminar aimed at educating selected teachers who were trained on the important issue of waste management. It provided them with the skills and information they will need to spread the message to their classrooms. It also provided them with printed material to facilitate their task.
   
For more information: Dr Michael Ierides (cymepa@cytanet.com.cy), Eco-Schools National Coordinator,CYMEPA (Cyprus)

   
An exciting event: On the 23 of September the Danish Eco-School programme held its 10 years jubilee with the participation of the Danish Minister of Education. 100 children and adults, green flags, children in green T-shirts, songs, music, cheers and a minister of education. Those were some of the ingredients in the event.
Eco-Schools – a contribution to schools and community: The event took place at the school Langbjergskolen in the suburb of Copenhagen. Langbjergskolen has received the green flag for the first time for the theme “Nature”. The ES programme has made many differences for the school. The headmaster Marianne Blum explained what the ES programme means to the school. Students, teachers and the technical staff are committed to the environmental work at the school, and the community respects their initiative. The waste-collection system has been re-structured and the school has saved a lot of paper. In connection to the nature theme the school has established a butterfly garden, a fruit garden and organic vegetable garden. Marianne Blum found that the ES programme had given the pupils much knowledge and has strengthened their interest for science education as well, and concluded that the ES programme in many ways had contributed a lot to the school in many ways.
All school should have an eco-school committee: Thorbjørn Bredkjær was the next speaker. He is 17 years old and a former stu-dent at one of the Danish eco-schools – Kirke-Saaby Skole. Two years ago he represented his school in the youth parliament – an event in the Danish parliament where 179 youth acted as politicians for one day. All schools in Denmark were invited to send in proposals for the youth parliament. Of the 1100 proposals that were sent in, 60 were selected for the day and the students passed five of the proposals. Thorbjørn and his class formulated one of the five. They proposed that every school in Denmark should have an eco-school committee, argued for the idea and handed the proposal over to the minister and hoped that the minister would use this proposal in the real parliament. Thorbjørn ended by giving three cheers for the Eco-School secretariat, which had supported the schools very well.
“Eco-Schools is about education for sustainability” - stated the deputy chairman for the Danish Outdoor Council, Kirsten Nielsen. Kirsten Nielsen stressed that the programme was a Danish invention. The programme has developed into an international programme with 12.000 schools in 30 countries. In Denmark approximately 10 % of the schools (210 schools) are participating in the Eco-School network and last year 60 schools were awarded with the green flag. Approximately 13.000 pupils have participated in the programme in 2004. Kirsten Nielsen emphasized that studies have pointed out that the ES programme contributes to the pupils knowledge and skills regarding environ-mental questions, and also strengthens the belief that we as individuals and together can make a difference for a better world.
In connection to the UN decade for education for sustainable development, Kirsten Nielsen expressed two wishes to the minister emphasizing that support to school’s work with education for sustainable development is very important. First of all the minister should clarify for the schools that education for sustainable development is an important perspective in all teaching. Secondly the ministry of education and the ministry of environment should support education for sustain-able development in the school.
Ulla Tørnæs, Minister of Education, praised the ES programme: The minister of education, Ulla Tørnæs, talked about the ES programme in a very positive way. “It’s a programme with very fine educational materials for developing many competences – science, fantasy and the ability to participate in society and act as responsible citizens.” Ulla Tørnæs stressed that the ES programme strengthened the student’s interest for science, which is very much in line with the government’s politics. The minister recognised the Eco-school project as an international project. The minister was pleased to know that Denmark rather than exporting environmental problems was known as an exporter of environmental education. Ulla Tørnæs wished the project good luck with establishing eco-school commit-tees and congratulated the eco-schools with the jubilee.
Eco-code poster competition, music, song - and the environmental patrol: After the speeches the minister presented the prizes for the best Danish posters in the eco-code poster competition. Pupils from Horbelev School and Nygård School received their prizes – an action-day with a nature interpreter who has access to various outdoor gears (canoes, climbing gear etc.). Students from two schools – the environmental patrol - demonstrated how pupils could make a difference. The day before the jubilee the students investigated the environment at a school – how they used water, energy, waste and how the school contributed to the nature around the school. The environmental patrol came up with many proposals on how the school could contribute to a better environment. It was a very good demonstration of possibilities in the ES programme. Pupils performed a musical called “The rubbish Dump”. They were dressed as cats, rats and gulls. Many more green songs were presented for a good ending to an exiting day.
   
For more information: Mr Eigil Larsen (kam@friluftsraadet.dk), Eco-Schools National Coordinator, Friluftsraadet - The Danish Outdoor Council (Denmark)

   
The Eco-Schools programme is being developed in South Africa as a school improvement programme, with the aim of supporting schools with sustainable environmental management and environmental learning. The programme is designed to encourage whole-school learning and action for a healthy environment.
Share-Net is a South African based informal networking project that supports environmental education and development in the SADC region. Share-Net and Eco-Schools are two WESSA-managed programmes that are working together to support schools across South Africa with tools for environmental learning.
In early September, Kim Ward (Eco-Schools) and Clare Peddie (Share-Net) spent a week visiting schools and EE projects in Limpopo and Northern Province. There is an enormous interest in the Eco-Schools programme, with many of schools that were visited having impressive food gardens. This is in spite of being in very low rainfall areas and some schools with no water at all (the children bring small containers of grey water from home each day to water the vegetables!) Another heart-warming environmental action project in one of the schools was the fate of a very old marula tree, roots badly exposed through soil erosion, and on the verge of falling over. By using old car tyres and building up the soil around the base, the tree has been saved and still provides shade next the sports grounds.
Many of these schools, all working towards achieving their ‘green flag’ which show that they are integrating their environmental work into the curriculum, are being supported by the range of resources available through Share-Net. These range from simple fieldwork booklets, the ‘taking action’ booklets which equip people with information and ideas on how to take effective environmental action in their local communities, teachers guides to provide teachers with a range of learning area activities related to specific topics, Enviro Facts which are 60 concise, up-to-date fact sheets on environmental issues in South Africa, to water quality monitoring resources as well as indigenous knowledge booklets, etc.
   
For more information: Ms Kim Ward (kim@futurenet.co.za), WESSA - Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa

   
From the 1st of August till the 10th of August ten pupils of Kurshenai Daugeliai Secondary School together with their teacher were camping in Auksuciai farm and forestry centre. We participated in the project entitled “The involving of local communities in protection of meadow plans species and habitats and looking after them in Siauliai region”. We got acquainted with methods of meadows stock-taking, with the rules how to collect plants and herbs, which grows in meadows and other place. We brought with ourselves a lot of impressions from Kamanai reservation, from pharmacy-museum and herbal garden of Vieksniai. At camp we were dealing with a doctor of socials sciences “American Lithuanian“ editor Jonas Jasaitis and his wife.
We are grateful for the wonderful camping to the organizers: the project co-ordinator of Siauliai University botanical garden Irina Sulskiene, to the student of the applied ecology of the 4-th course Darius Jaksevicius, to the head of Environmental Department of Siauliai University, the head of botanical garden, doctor Vida Motiekaityte, to the doctor of sciences Jonas Sliupas, to the director of research Lawsrence D.Clement, to the manager of transaction Raigerdas Karosas.
   
For more information please contact: Mr Egidijus Cibirauskas (eco-schools@zalieji.lt), Eco-Schools National Coordinator,Lietuvos Zaliuju Judejimas - Lithuanian Green Movement (Lithuania)

   
The Volvo Adventure is an exciting opportunity, for existing and new environmental action projects. Arranged in collaboration with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the Volvo Adventure Award offers to reward young people who run their own environmental projects. Young people around the world are setting up their own project groups, choosing a subject they can deal with and deciding how they should approach it. It could involve improving the situation for animals, improving water quality or using energy resources more wisely. The adventure can begin! For these young people it could be an adventure that offers a chance to make new friends all over the world, attract international attention and ultimately win a spectacular prize, such as the opportunity to present their project at an international conference in Sweden, and the chance of a financial reward that could make it possible to run, improve or enhance their project. Why not enter your own project? The aim is that you should be able to run it as a school or community project and present your ideas on the Internet. Start on the website: What do you need to do to get started? Go to the Volvo Adventure website - www.volvoadventure.org. There you will find everything you need to register your project. You will then receive a start-up package with instructions on how to proceed. We look forward to seeing your network's projects! Remember - the deadline is January 31! Good luck!
   
For more information: Wayne Talbot, on behalf of Kikki Hugestrand, Volvo Event Management (Dept 1630, ARHK1 / SE-405 08 Göteborg / Sweden)

   
The European 2004 poster contest on Sustainable Innovations invites creative young citizens of Europe to participate in expressing their visions for the future. If you have any thoughts, ideas and visions on how to improve our lives - Sign up - and win prizes valued at 1500 Euro. The assignment: The task for the participant in the European 2004 Poster Contest is to illustrate how innovations can help make our future more sustainable. Innovations shape our daily lives and our surroundings and Sustainable Innovations are new ways of thinking which brings our society towards a sustainable and non-pollutant future. In what way do you believe innovations will change existing polluting technologies towards a sustainable society? It's up to you to decide if your view on tomorrow's environment is based on existing technologies or if it is based on a not yet discovered technology. Contest Rules: The European 2004 poster contest on Sustainable Innovations is for European children and youth in primary schools and high schools. An international jury consisting of environmental, design and art experts will make the final evaluation. The admitted posters will be judged on the vision behind the poster, the creative outlet and aesthetical presentation of the poster. The age and education of the artist will also be taken into account. Exhibitions and publications: In December 2004, the winning posters from each country will be exhibited in the Copenhagen City Hall, and the final winning contribution elected. The Illustrations will also be exhibited at a seminar for European business leaders discussing "visions for the future". The exhibition will afterwards be offered to all the participating countries. The best posters will finally be stored in a database and will be used in publications such as exhibition catalogues and reports from the European Environmental Agency. The winners of the contests will receive prizes valued at 1500 Euro. Participating countries: In the year 2004, school children from 31 European countries are invited to participate in the poster contest. What all these 31 countries have in common is that they are members of the European Environment Agency. Other interested European countries are welcome as well. Admission Dates: The final deadline for delivering the posters to Royal Awards in Copenhagen is the 17th of October 2004.
   
For more information about the poster contest, including guidelines, please contact Royal Awards: Address: Royal Awards for Sustainability - c/o European Environment Agency Kongens Nytorv 6 - 1050 Copenhagen K. - Denmark Tel.:+45 333672 33 . simon.storgaard@eea.eu.int . www.royalawards.org

   
On 15 October will take place the 2004 Green Flag Awarding Ceremony, an event prepared for more than 2000 participants among teachers, students and local authorities' representatives involved in the Eco-Schools programme. The day will be fulfilled with environmental education activities, including the exhibition of the Eco-Code poster national competition. Sustainable mobility will be the key focus of Portuguese Eco-Schools in the next school year, through an integrated approach of the climate change issue. The national coordination programmed activities will be integrated on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), which begins in January 2005.
   
For more information: Ms Margarida Gomes (ecoescolas@abae.pt), ABAE/FEE Portugal

   
In August, at the beginning of the school year, took place the first meetings of Slovene eco-schools co-ordinators in three towns. The number of Eco-Schools is now over 230 and since we wanted to make the journey of the participating teachers easier, we organised our meetings in Murska Sobota, Maribor and Ljubljana, for over 190 teachers. At the coordinator-teachers meetings, Ms Nada Pavšer, the Slovene Eco-Schools Manager, presented the Eco-Schools national programme, and information on the project "The Hidden Treasure", advertisement "Environmental Prize" of GV magazine. She also informed the participants about FEE and national criteria 2004/2005 as well as activities of Slovene Eco-Schools. Other members of the national coordination reported on additional activities of Eco-Schools (excursion to Gorenjska region, internet and difficulties in communication, advertisement "A Car in Service of Man and Nature"). Ms Nada Pavšer also gave a lecture on "Protection of Nature - The Basic Knowledge on Water", and Ms Mihaela Mrzlikar's lecture was about "Efficient Use of Electric Power in Households". To present the “Rainbow Theatre” we invited Ms Jana Stržinar, the author and performer of eco-oriented fairy tales with puppets. Before each meeting, teachers were invited to cooperate in workshops. Some of them decided to present their view of the role of an eco coordinator, so the workshops were very interesting. We concluded our coordinators meetings with a visit to an eco-farm and Ljubljansko barje (Ljubljana marsh).
   
For more information: Ms Nada Pavšer (nada.pavser@guest.arnes.si), DOVES- Društvo za Okoljevarstveno Vzgojo v Sloveniji (Slovenia)

   
The current inadequacy of relevant learning support materials for effective Environmental Education (EE)/Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Kenya is a critical need that ought to be addressed. Admittedly, effective education should be planned and developed through interactive materials for learners and educators. Unfortunately though, the lack of relevant and appropriate resource materials for EE/ESD has been sited as the major obstacle to the efforts to successfully implement EE/ESD in Kenya. Teachers' conferences, meetings and workshops called to brainstorm on the way forward for EE/ESD in Kenya have always challenged the relevant lead agencies to pave the way by providing the relevant materials to guide the process of EE/ESD implementation. Independent research and monitoring conducted by the Kenya Organization for Environmental Education (KOEE), which is the lead agency in EE/ESD in Kenya has also perceived the urgent need for EE/ESD resource materials for Kenya. A challenge it has tactfully considered to respond to, through the Eco-Schools materials development initiative. Eco-schools policy guidelines developed in partnership (June 2002) by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Eco-Schools coordination of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), Share-net and SADC Regional Environmental Education programme and The Kenya Organization for Environmental Education (KOEE) recognized that appropriate learning support materials are key to the Eco-Schools programme. The Eco-Schools programme realizes the importance of support materials for learning in the formal and informal sector. As a contribution towards the need for relevant support materials in Kenya, KOEE in collaboration with the Danish Out-Door Council (DOC) and the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) plus other partner and research organizations, with support from The Danish Agency for International Development (DANIDA) are developing resource materials to enhance Education for Sustainable development (ESD) in the Country. The materials will be developed in the form of an Eco-Schools Starter pack, Theme packs, posters, Teacher's ESD curriculum manual, and a Teachers' training module. The Starter pack will be developed first as an introductory material of the Eco-Schools Programme in Kenya. Work on all the sets of materials is underway but is constrained by the limited financial resources. Due to this impediment, a few materials will be produced during the first phase and the distribution for piloting will have to be limited to only a few schools. The development of these materials is quite timely for Kenya having taken the necessary steps to address the looming environmental crisis. Notably: The development of anational strategy for ESD by The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) in collaboration with KOEE, the inclusion of environmental issues in the curriculum, Integration of environmental concerns in plans of development and the enactment of appropriate policies and legislation that enhance sustainable environmental management and development. This initiative is also in line with the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). KOEE's materials development initiative hopes to enhance the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on sustainable development using Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture, Biodiversity and Waste issues. Other crosscutting issues of Entrepreneurship, Disaster preparedness, and Poverty will also form an important part of the materials to be developed. Having thoroughly considered the different approaches to materials development, KOEE opted for the participatory materials development processes due to its apparent strengths. The materials will be developed through the participant/teacher-centred approach that seeks to respect the needs of the schools and calls for flexible and responsive planning processes. This process is expected to empower teachers and all participating stakeholders on material development processes owing to its participatory nature; this clearly reflects a shift from the traditional expert-centred approaches which focus on the Research-Develop-Disseminate-Adopt (RDDA) model. During August 2004, KOEE organized a very successful materials development workshop at the Lakeside city of Kisumu with the view of setting the process going and involving relevant stakeholders in the process. The key objectives of this workshop were to: enlighten participants on how to enhance Education for sustainable development through the use of effective and relevant materials, to equip participants with skills and knowledge on how to develop resource materials that promote active learning, support investigative activities, and encourage environmental actiontaking for change. The envisaged learner support materials are expected to reflect good qualities of communication, draw on appropriate educational ideas, be able to engage learners in Action-Oriented environmental learning activities and problem solving, propose diverse Environmental Action learning (EAL) methods/approaches, be easy to use, be appropriate to the levels of learners, be flexible for use at both Micro-projects sites and the classroom, be relevant to current environmental issues in the light of the millennium thematic areas, and most important enable learners to explore values that promote sustainable development. It is hoped that this initiative, will contribute significantly towards sustainable development through education in Kenya.
   
For more information: Mr Gregory Odeke J.E. (odekes@koee.org), KOEE - Kenya Organization for Environmental Education (Kenya)

   
Dear Eco-Schools family,
One of the educational establishments participating in Eco-schools/Green Flag program in Russia asked my NGO "Keep St.-Petersburg Tidy" to help them find support for their efforts in convincing the Regional authorities to cancel plans of starting production of Ferro-Chromium alloy in their town. The school Children's Environmental Centre is situated in the town Tikhvin of Leningrad Region (3 hours drive to the East from St. Petersburg). I am sending you the translation of their letter. This educational establishment is a newcomer in Eco- Schools programme in Russia and to my mind it is very important to support them in their activities. Thanking you in advance.
Warmest regards,
Olga Madison
   
Dear Eco-Committee members,
The Environment of our town Tikhvin and neighbouring areas is in danger, because a private company is going to start producing Ferro-Chromium alloy here. Such kind of industry is very polluting. It requires fine filtration (at least 3 stages) of air emissions and even in that case must be situated in at least 3km from the residential areas. In Tikhvin the production will be situated in the town. It means that more than 10000 people will live and/or work only 1km away from the factory. According to the information book under the edition of professor V.A.Filov (publication ISB #5-7245-0264-X) both compounds Cr(III) and Cr(VI) are very harmful substances. In combination with fresh water Cr₂O₃ turns into CrO₃, a substance of the first class of danger. The preliminary information shows that the concentration of that substance in the air will be 20 times higher than the maximum permissible concentration. Even in smaller amounts it may cause lungs, kidney, liver, stomach and heart diseases, reproduction abnormalities, cancer, problems with memorizing and logical thinking, as well as skin diseases and allergy. It is very well shown by other areas with similar industrial enterprises. Moreover the prevailing winds will bring that kind of pollution to the Ladoga Lake which is the main source of drinking water for St. Petersburg with 5 million citizens. In 1997 the referendum held in Tikhvin on that issue showed that 97 per cent of the local population were against that production. At that time the plans were stopped but not cancelled. Now another firm is trying to start the production with the same technology and the same filtration system. The production has been allowed by the Regional authorities (of the Leningrad Region) that ignored opinion of local citizens in Tikhvin. We would like you to support us in our efforts in saving the environment and send letters by e-mail and/or fax to the authorities of different levels. All additional information and draft letter could be asked from the Eco-Schools National Programme Manager for Russia, Olga Madison.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Looking forward to hearing from you very soon.
With best regards,
Eco-Committee of the Children's Environmental Center of Tikhvin
   
For more information: Ms Olga Madison (olgamadison@yahoo.com), Keep St. Petersburg Tidy (Russia)

   
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.
   
For more information: Ms Jane Helps (greenschools@antaisce.org), An Taisce (Ireland)

   
A delegation of Eco-Schools teachers from Europe, as well as FEE representatives such as Mr Heiko Crost (Vice President of FEE), Per-Olov Ottosson (Eco-Schools National Coordinator for Sweden) and Kim Ward (Eco-Schools National Coordinator for South Africa) participated in the Conference, by invitation of the organizers. The seminar took place from July 29th - 31st 2004. At the same time an international meeting of students concerning environmental topics took place in a Secondary School of Taizhou. Participants of the international seminar on "Green Schools" (in Germany called "ecological Schools") working with a focus on ecological topics, included scientists of several subjects and didactics as well as representatives of NGOs and teachers. The aim of the seminar was to enable a broad exchange of the differing environmental education in schools today, also including environmental education outside of schools. Another aim was to ask the moving forces of environmental programmes of states and general ones about the organization of their work. Furthermore, scientific programmes and projects as models of environmental education and their empirical evaluation were presented. For the Chinese organizers (organizer of the seminar: State Environmental Protection Administration of China) the seminar served as a demonstration of their own efforts in the field of environmental education as well as information and exchange of ideas for employees of the administration, for scientific guides and organizers of environmental educational programmes. According to the broad spectrum of participants there was a variety of selective presentations. The didactic basis of environmental education was a topic as well as the introduction of various NGOs as organizers and guides of environmental education in schools. A global international network of environmental educational programmes, the FEE (Foundation for Environmental Education), was also introduced to the participants of the seminar. One focus during the seminar was to inform about projects including the new media as the means by which new information is being conveyed inside the net of multinational environmental education. The prevailing political and social conditions of efforts in environmental educational work were also an important topic during the seminar. Due to different political systems these conditions are also quite different from state to state. The prevailing political conditions lead to diverging points of interest when it comes to promoting environmental education in a state. While the participation of students is a very important point in Western Europe and most of the work should be project-oriented and include holistic nature-experiences, rather empirical natural sciences are of interest in other states. Some of the speakers made clear that it is due to efforts in environmental education that the students' regional political commitment and commitment to society can be fostered and a positive development of the schools can take place. Furthermore, the state of development of a national economy or society leads to special topics which are the focus of attention concerning environmental education. The speaker from India (Centre of Environmental Education), for example, highlighted the importance of connecting the topic environmental education with the development of the country and overcoming of the poverty.
Being one of the participants of the seminar, with my presentation on the environmental education activities at the Wöhlerschule, Germany (as you can imagine - very project-orientated and with a high grade of students' participation during all the processes of decision), I had the following impressions:
* A kind of 'globalisation' in environmental education is nothing to be afraid of: the teamwork of schools and NGOs of different nations can be very positive as you can learn from each other regarding methods and contents of environmental education. The international network of NGOs working nationally like FEE is important to offer the opportunity to compare the different national efforts and to give the chance to support weaker national members and also to give the chance to share the different experiences.
* The efforts of the Chinese Centre of Environmental Education and Communication of SEPA to continue the programme on implementing Green Schools should be looked at and supported. It is an important issue that environmental education can increase the level of participation in school. So the work on EE can be seen in connection with the aim of bringing more understanding to political and social processes worldwide.

For more information: Mr Daniel Scherf (daniel.scherf@gmx.de), a schoolteacher from Germany who was present at the event and made this report)

   
Mr Heiko Crost, Vice President of FEE, was in Lisbon, Portugal, for a series of meetings with the Eco-Schools International Coordination on September 10-12. Having recently returned from the International Green Schools seminar in China, naturally one of the issues discussed was the increasing interest from different countries in the Eco-Schools programme, and the mechanisms for maintaining an active network, such as the online school linking project to be launched in the next few months. Preparations for the upcoming international Eco- Schools Coordinators´ annual meeting, and International Eco- Code competition, were also discussed. Mr Crost, himself a former teacher, is a Member of the FEE Executive Board, and has supported and accompanied the Eco-Schools programme, in particular with respect to the programme's implementation in new countries and regions.

   
The Eco-Schools programme in Kenya has come at the most appropriate time. With the biting famine, looming hunger and starvation orchestrated by crop failure; the situation in some parts of Kenya is so sad that one wonders what longterm measures could be put in place to avert future advent of similar calamities. The Eco-Schools programme is surely one such a measure. Thanks to the Kenya Organization for Environmental Education (KOEE), The Danish Out-Door Council (DOC) and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for initiating the Pilot Eco-Schools programme in Kenya. Through the Micro-projects component of the programme, the communities around the pilot Eco-Schools are bound to benefit a great deal both in knowledge as well as in actual tangible benefits.
A recent visit to Nzoia primary school (one of the pilot schools in Siaya District) just confirmed this. Nzoia primary school opted for Horticultural farming as their Microproject. Horticultural farming was strategically considered owing to the scarcity of fresh horticultural produce in the region. This is attributed mainly to poorly drained soils and unreliable rainfall; a phenomena that has over time discouraged the local community from venturing into Horticulture as a business. When the Eco-School committee chose to venture into horticulture, the decision was met with a lot of resistance, which consider it a high-risk venture. Thanks to the determination of the committee members who went ahead to seek technical advice from the local Agricultural Extension office and a technical expert from the community. Through their technical advice and expertise, drainage channels and makeshift water reservoir was constructed to implement the project. Four months down the line, Nzoia primary school today boasts a daily income of up to 1000 Kenyan shillings (about 10,4 euros) from the sale of kales, onions and tomatoes from their horticultural farm. The committee has made a projection of 400.000 shillings (4200 euros) from the project this season. The community members who were initially sceptical about the feasibility of the project are now resigned as they depend on the Eco-School micro-project for their horticultural supply at subsidized rates.
The community has learnt several lessons from this Eco-Schools venture:
* Through networking and school community cooperation, they can get relevant technical guidance.
* The economic status of community members can improve in a matter of months if they initiate similar projects with an assured minimum daily income of 200 shillings;
* Horticultural farming is not a reserve of certain regions with good soils and reliable rainfall.

It only takes careful planning, relevant technical advice, some capital and hard work to succeed in their localities. With regard to curriculum work, it was encouraging to note that the school was using the horticulture farm to enrich teaching/learning activities in the school. The students were involved in several environmental action learning (EAL) activities such as nursery bed establishment and other routine farm activities. These activities were linked to daily lessons in subjects such as Science and Agriculture. After the training workshops on localizing the curriculum, more ideas on the use of school grounds as a teaching/ learning resource were gained and it is expected that this will further enhance environmental action learning in the school. The school is also making an attempt to establish composting sites for degradable waste. A school environmental policy with regard to waste management and environmental best practices is being developed. The compost will be used to improve soil fertility in the farm.
In conclusion, I wish to state that: the Eco-Schools programme, through the micro-projects component has unlimited opportunities to change the livelihoods of the surrounding communities. But to realize tangible sustainable development steadily, similar initiatives ought to be replicated in other parts of the country soon. The Eco-Schools programme should be embraced as a national programme. The challenge thus lies on the implementing organizations and other wouldbe partners to move fast in extending the programme.
   
For more information: Mr Gregory Odeke J.E. OR Ms Dorcas Otieno (dorcasotieno@koee.org), KOEE - Kenya Organization for Environmental Education (Kenya)

   
The 2003-2004 school year has been a very fruitful one for quite a number of Greek schools that participate in the Eco-Schools Project. Since the beginning of May, the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature (HSPN), National Operator of the Project in Greece, received many reports by Environmental Teams working on water, energy, waste and implementing various activities in order to transform their schools into sustainable ones. Many of the school reports are accompanied by photographs, posters, leaflets artefacts and other exhibits that illustrate the work accomplished during the school year by the students, while some Environmental Teams, opted to compile their work onto cd-roms, making it easier to access and view their performance.
One such example, and a very good one at that, is the cd-rom produced by the High School of Gargalianoi, (age 12-15), in the Messinia region. The Environmental Team working on waste is making a thorough presentation, in electronic format, of all the activities implemented in the class room and in the school grounds, as well as in the field: dissemination of the Eco-Code concerning paper recycling to all their fellow students at school, collection of recyclable materials, supervision of the school's waste. Furthermore, through a very interesting programme seeking to inform the community, conceived by the school's Environmental Team and implemented with the cooperation of the local Municipality, included activities such as dissemination of an information leaflet to all the local citizens through mail, as well setting up of a communication box, where those interested to be informed about composting could drop in their address and receive information on the subject by the students. The Environmental Team of the High School of Gargalianoi also visited a facility on paper recycling and another one treating glass while the students travelled to the near by cities of Kalamata and Tripoli in order to present their recycling project to mayor of Kalamata and to their fellow students on the 1st High School of Tripoli, respectively. The school year ended with festivities at the school grounds, which among other things included an impressive exhibition of musical instruments, all hand made by use of recyclable materials. The quality of the Environmental Team's work is clearly exhibited in the cd-rom, the whole presentation being featured in web style format, easily navigated, with very good texts, pictures, short videos and functional graphics. An excellent overall example of environmental awareness and modern technology, combined.
   
For more information: Mr Panos Mathioudakis (hspn@hol.gr), Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature (Greece)