Green project spreads to local school

Knowledge transfer: GCI's Keketso Motjuwadi and Inka Schomer educate pre-school children about environmental issues.

The adage "bend the tree while it is young" was top of mind when the Green Campus Initiative (GCI) extended its work beyond UCT boundaries, spreading their message to pre-school children.

In what GCI's Inka Schomer described as "one of the hardest things we have ever done" and as part of its outreach programme, the three-year-old society provided environmental education to the teachers and children, aged one to six years, at Shereen's Montessori Pre-Primary School in Salt River.

"You would ask the children 'what do you know about environmental issues?' and realise that there are just blank faces," Schomer explained. "You had to break it down and ask simple questions, like 'do you like it when the road is dirty?' to help them understand. It was a new experience for us. Fun, though."

At the school, GCI worked with parents and staff to introduce the waste-separation process for recycling, and are working on a plan to plant trees in the school grounds.

Schomer said they have been inundated with requests from schools to talk about what they do. They want to persuade other schools to implement the GCI's ideas to become more environmental friendly and sustainable, while enjoying the benefits, such as reduced electricity bills.