Wenona Goes Green for Environment Week
Following its inception in 2023, Wenona's Environment Week returned in 2024 bigger, bolder, and better than ever.
This year, the Environment Group wanted to focus on starting conversations rather than creating any sense of blame, and on seeing what we can all do, where and when we can, to be aware of our carbon footprints, and to embrace the concept of also having a green footprint.
The week involved various activities across the School. On Monday, Connect Groups engaged in a carbon footprint calculator, which generates a ‘personal overshoot day’ – in other words, how many earths would it take if everyone lived the way we do? Wenona’s Environment Prefect, Eleanor, then addressed the Senior School in Tuesday’s Assembly to consolidate this learning, focusing her speech on the need for these conversations, and how we must shift the narrative to start embracing a sense of a ‘collective web’ of responsibility, rather than one of personal guilt. A video was also shown in Assembly extolling the virtues of using reusable coffee cups, not littering plastic, and encouraging people to join the Environment Group. Doing what we can, where we can, is always valuable and welcome, and it was great to see many students step up to engage in small acts of service in a playground clean-up during Tuesday’s lunchtime.
Waste Free Wednesday was the centre point of the week. Students were able to purchase specially designed Wenona Environment Week badges, and add a touch of green flare to their shoes or socks – a visual representation of our green footprint. This was complemented by our traditional Waste Free Wednesday stall, selling many eco-friendly baked goods as well as items to support better waste-free living, such as reusable coffee cups, tote bags, metal straws and bamboo toothbrushes. Students and staff raised funds to be donated to the charity WIRES, an organisation that Wenona has historically supported ever since the devastation of the 2019 to 2020 bush fire season and its resultant loss or displacement of over three billion native animals.
On Thursday, members of the Environment Group headed out into the School community at lunchtime, acting as a clean-up crew with a mission – to pick up rubbish AND start conversations at the same time. Their buckets included messaging about key environmental concerns and facts, charities the School supports, as well as general promotion to students to get involved in the Environment Group if they are interested. The group meets every Thursday in Room E and always welcomes new members. Meetings involve sharing what is in the news, lively debates, and planning for future events such as this. Our Environment Group is determined to maintain an Environment Week annually moving forward, to keep the momentum and the dialogue going.
Our students gained a lot from this week and were encouraged by the participation of their peers. “Environment week has been such a step up this year, full of lots of initiatives to raise awareness and inspire a passion for the environment. It has been encouraging to see the involvement and engagement from our community,” said Year 12 student, Jess. Year 11 student, Ishnika, said, “For me, it has been a great experience seeing the whole School community embrace this initiative with curiosity and enthusiasm, from the Year 7s who picked up rubbish around the School in exchange for a baked treat, to the large number of students who supported the cause by purchasing and proudly wearing an Environment Week pin (or two!).”