Environmental Awareness Week, March 2021

In an excellent week, with each day assigned a specific theme, students were asked to consider their impact on the environment in regard to water usage, energy, biodiversity, waste management and travel. Each morning resources, designed by the Green School’s Committee, were distributed via teams to inform on how we can take positive action in support of our environment.

The resources were designed with the Committee’s AAA approach in mind, Awareness, Appreciation & Action.

On Tuesday, as part of the ‘Energy’ theme, 171 boys calculated their carbon footprint.

On Wednesday, 115 students took part in our ‘Walk for Water‘ Campaign, an initiative that asks students to walk or run 3kms and reflect on the privilege of having easy access to clean, fresh water supplies.

On Thursday, Robert McNabb interviewed Eoin Cassidy (class of 1996), about his role as an energy lawyer, his projections for the future of Ireland’s energy system and the importance of proper legislation in pursuing our nation’s climate action goals.
A video, which was entered in the Saffron Science Competition, detailed our efforts to promote cycling amongst the student body, as well as highlighting the challenges that cyclists face locally. The entry has been shortlisted as a finalist in the competition.

On Friday, he winners of the Blackrock College Environmentalist Awards were announced. Appropriately the winning entry was on “The declining population of bees and how we can prevent it”, as 20,000 bees joined our campus community on Wednesday.

Matthew O’Donnell interviewed Green Party Councillor Seáfra Ó Faoláin’s (Class of 2015) about his involvement with DLR County Council, the importance of environmental protection on a local, national and international level as well.

Finally, we congratulate Chairman Robert McNabb and our Green Schools Committee for a spectacular week. We thank Ms Harlowe and Ms Wyse for their leadership. We thank Mr O’Shea for the promotion of the week on school social media platforms and Ms Markey for distributing resources to the student body each morning.

A great week