By Anna Sofia Reyna, Y13
For many years humans have been living on this planet and have interacted with its rich and beautiful environment. The one we call “Mother Earth”, has been made a home by all living things, from the smallest virus to the largest of mammals. How is it possible, therefore, for us to disrespect it to the point where we know that it will never be the same again.
Many changes have been occurring around the globe such as rising sea levels, temperatures, natural disasters, and more. Many can be traced back to the beginning of the industrial revolution when humans began to extract and burn compressed remains of previously living organisms as a source of energy. The combustion of these remains, referred to as fossil fuels, releases carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere, which is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, thereby enhancing global warming.
Smokestacks fill the skyline in Estonia. (Photo: © Curt Carnemark / World Bank/Flickr)
When we speak about global warming we do not speak of one individual country but we speak about the world as a whole. The home for all humans beings. The International School of Geneva (LGB) can be considered by many as a community and a home to hundreds of international families who are all impacted by climate change in one way or another. That is why three students took on the initiative to begin the peace between the world and our community. Finnur Ricart Andrason, George Hogge, and Domingo Mujica took action and are encouraging every student at LGB to join them in making our highschool an Eco-School. They, together with the rest of the committee, have created an action plan that will allow them to raise awareness in the school about the impacts our community is having on the world around it.
This action plan addresses the issue of poor recycling habits. This may be due to laziness or lack of knowledge – the committee plans on teaching the students and bringing these problems into the light. The action plan also consists of regular talks on the matter and giving practical examples or “quizzes” to test knowledge and correct specific misinformation. The Eco-Committee has future projects coming up like showing the students how the waste collection works at LGB.
Plans and goals also include forest clean-ups at the school, Green week and the complete eradication of single-use plastics on campus. The Eco-Committee urges everyone to take part in these activities and to pay close attention to all the information they have to give as these small activities and changes around the school may help us stop the many issues our world faces today.
If you would like more information on this matter please feel free to contact any member of the committee. Below are the email addresses of the three executive members of the group and the supervisor to which you can write if you have anything you would like to ask them or suggest to them.
finnur.ricart@learning.ecolint.ch
george.hogge@learning.ecolint.ch
domingo.mujica@learning.ecolint.ch
stephanie.rathier@ecolint.ch
