Green Day
Huge event in NSG Quad Friday 11 December. Green food, green games, gardening, blue laces & music!! Fundraising efforts are to support Pacific Islanders' travel to Copenhagen climate summit. We are also encouraging everyone to get involved by getting informed, and taking action, especially Walk Against Warming on Saturday 12 December.
Sisters on the Planet
Group Leader: Priscilla Tang
An Oxfam initiative to screen a short documentary exploring the effects of climate change on human rights and Pacific Islanders. (http://www.oxfam.org.au/act/events/sisters-on-the-planet)
The screening will be in the GYM at scripture on Tues 29 September. There will be a petition to sign, postcards to send, stickers & posters to stick around the school and information on how to take further action.
YOUth Decide
Group Leaders: Stephanie Zhu, Jessica Xu
"Youth Decide '09 is a national youth vote on climate change. We’re giving Australia’s 4.8 million young people the chance to vote on what kind of world we want to inherit." - YouthDecide website
Recently we have pulled off a massive flashmob dance in our school quad, drawing from the amazing experience of the Powershift dance some members were a part of. **Videos are up on our new Youtube channel!**
NSGHS Youth Decide Event
TOMORROW & THURSDAY!
Tues — scripture, recess, lunch
Thurs — recess, lunch
On Tuesday, 3 laptops will be set up in the quad outside the gym during scripture and recess. At lunch, 5 pairs of Gen Earthlings will roam the school, one wearing a billboard sandwich of Youth Decide paraphenalia, the other holding a laptop for votes. Same thing will happen on Thursday.
Free food for all those who vote, with an option of donating to the new Worm Farm/Compost Bin Fund.
Please see our group page for billboard pairs roster & schedule for the day.
Gardening & Worm Farms
Group Leaders: Angela Zhang, Ms Lamble
Earlier this year, we won a native plants grant from North Sydney Council and the Year 10 Art class won 2 worm farms for our school. From this, we have begun a renewal of our school gardens. The project's aim is to create thriving school gardens full of native plants, and focuses on interaction between the students and our environment.
The worm farms are back and working. Four green buckets have been put around the school for people to drop their food scraps in. The roster for collection duties will be up shortly.
Last term, a small group ventured into our wild gardens to tackle those plants that aren't native to our country or area. The Schools to Work committee are now planning a program that incorporates gardening into the curriculum. The latest minutes for this meeting can be seen here.
Bottled Water
Group Leaders: Denise Hsueh, Sai Kumaravel, Tracey Liang
This project aims to reduce the school's use and disposal of bottled water/drinks by proposing alternative products.
It has recently been found that Cool Change Water is a big hoax! We have found another alternative, Charlie's Honest Juice. Tracey is investigating the quote price & a proposal is being developed to present to the canteen.
Also there is an idea to promote My Green Bottles, an intiative by Brita, to students. There are thoughts of arranging a crew from Brita to set up a tent at our school where kids can sign the pledge to never buy bottled water again in exchange for a reusable and recyclable Green Bottle. Perhaps this can be implicated earlier next year.
350
Group Leader: Adeline Lee, Sophia Hardy
An international day of climate action on October 24th. Possibly an image of the digits 350 to be made by people in the quad, to be taken from the lab corridors.
"350.org is an international campaign dedicated to building a movement to unite the world around solutions to the climate crisis—the solutions that science and justice demand." - website 350.org
Addie has registered an event on the website, but we need ideas on how this action should happen. If you have any suggestions or would like to discuss, head over to the forum!
Past Projects
Powershift 2009
Australia's first youth climate summit held 11-13 September. A promotional campaign was held to try and bring more people to the event. Assembly items, year group announcements, stickers and bookmarks were given out. Quite a big group of NSGs ended up going.
There were prominant and awe-inspiring leaders of our society speaking, green jobs fairs, training sessions and workshops and opportunities to meet and establish connections with like-minded people from all across Australia. At the end, all the Powershifters took part in a huge flash mob dance on the Sydney Opera House steps, with the help of some former So You Think You Can Dance contestants. I think it's safe to say that for people who attended that it was definitely a highlight of the year.
