Thursday, 16 November 2017

European Week of Waste Reduction: 18 - 26 November



The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) 2017 will take place from 18 to 26 November, with awareness-creating actions about sustainable resource and waste management taking place all over Europe. In the spotlight of the EWWR is to raise awareness about how to reduce waste, how to reuse products and recycle materials.

Oak House School is participating in 2 ways...

1) We are sharing this week in the newsletter, and around the school our TOP 5 WAYS to reduce plastic (This is an initiative by the #NOPLASTIC campaign)

2) On Thursday the 23rd November we are inviting special guest Aimee Van Vliet to give a workshop on waste reduction, the idea behind her #zerowaste campaign and to get us thinking about why and how we can use resources more efficiently. Aimee is working in education for schools and communities and is an eco-entrepreneur.


Thursday, 9 November 2017

Environmental News this week..

Delhi is completely smogged out! The air pollution is so bad that breathing is like smoking 50 cigarettes. This articles tells us more about the problem, but we are learning that air pollution is a massive problem on our planet.



This graph, shows how much air pollution affects us around the world:





#NOPLASTIC


This picture makes us very sad... are we going backwards??!!!


But some good news..

Here's a video that shows other biodegradable options instead of plastic!!


 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXklBP53VT4

Friday, 3 November 2017

#NOPLASTIC




In environmental we are doing a campaign to reduce plastic use, we are called the #NOPLASTIC team and we would like it if you could help us. This subject has already been mentioned many times in our school, but sadly very few people listen or do anything to improve this. That is why we are trying to reduce plastic use ourselves and also persuade other people to do it to. That is how we got the idea of putting an article about this in the newsletter.

We think people should try to reuse or reduce the amount of plastic they consume since it is
extremely bad for nature, it takes a very long time to disintegrate. Experts have investigated this
subject and have observed that the amount of plastic has increased by a large quantity over recent
years.

Why should we reduce plastic?

One of the main reasons to reduce plastic is the fact that there is now about 5 plastic islands
in the world in the ocean. This is an extremely bad situation because there is more pollution
and more fish are dying. One of the plastic islands is situated in the north part of the Pacific Ocean,
and the Caribbean Sea is not as perfect as we thought is was, some zones are now full of rubbish
and you can hardly believe it is the same Caribbean you see in the photos on our previous blog post.

Another mayor issue is that plastic takes a very long time to disintegrate and with the
massive quantity of plastic we use per year we will have too much plastic on Earth . An
everyday grocery bag takes 10-20 years , a plastic bottle takes 450.

How to reduce plastic:

A really basic way of trying to reduce plastic is to not get the plastic bags that they offer in the
super market, one of these bags takes 10 years to disintegrate.

We are Gabriela Herrera, Abril Marlí, Julia Barragán, Lucia, Carlotta Erroz, and we say #NOPLASTIC !!!

Thursday, 2 November 2017

Environmental news this week....

The world was shocked by photos showing seas of rubbish instead of the turquoise Caribbean sea we always imagine..


and we have seen a campaign here in Catalunya to encourage recycling which will stop more plastic getting into the oceans. Maybe you recognise this?


We are pleased to announce that this week we are launching our very own #noplastic campaign from a group of students in the Environmental Club... look out for the posters around school and see what you can do to reduce plastic waste!!  See more here

REDUCE

REUSE

RECYLCE


Tuesday, 24 October 2017

Environmental news this week...

Do you like insects?

Do you know what they do for us?

Well we found out in Environmental Club this week that they are absolutely crucial to life on this planet... and that they are disappearing far too quickly.

"Three-quarters of flying insects in nature reserves across Germany have vanished in 25 years, with serious implications for all life on Earth, scientists say"

Read more here

One of the ideas we have for a practical activity this year (which won't solve the problem... but is a step in the right direction) is to build an insect hotel to encourage different and diverse insects to live in the school gardens.

Video of how to make an insect hotel!!

Monday, 16 October 2017

UN GRUP DE JOVES PROCEDENTS D’ILLES AFECTADES PEL CANVI CLIMÀTIC VISITA BARCELONA

El passat divendres 22 de setembre un centenar d’estudiants de centres educatius de Barcelona, entre ells, Oak House School es van reunir amb un grup de joves que viatja a bord del Peace Boat, el vaixell d’una ONG japonesa que treballa per promoure la pau, els drets humans, el desenvolupament just i sostenible i el respecte pel medi ambient.


Els alumnes han visitat el vaixell per escoltar en primera persona el testimoni d’aquests joves activistes. Es tracta d’un grup de nois i noies d’entre 19 i 26 anys procedents de Fiji, les Illes Marshal, Maldives, Seychells, Trinitat i Tobago i Belize. El grup forma part del primer “Programade Joves Ambaixadors per als Oceans i el Clima” organitzat per l’ONG japonesa. Tots són líders en les seves comunitats i tenen una àmplia experiència en al lluita contra el canvi climàtic i la degradació dels oceans a nivell local i internacional.



Durant la visita al vaixell, els nostres alumnes de Ciències de la Terra i Biologia de segon de Batxillerat han tingut l’oportunitat d’intercanviar experiències i coneixement amb els ambaixadors.


El Conseller del Departament de Territori i Sotenibilitat de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Josep Rull, i un representant de l’Ajuntament de Barcelona han tancat l’acte.


Thursday, 5 October 2017

Environmental news this week..

An article that was published today showed images of large industrial farming and shared the findings of a report that :

The ongoing global appetite for meat is having a devastating impact on the environment driven by the production of crop-based feed for animals 

They found that the impact of the farming behind meat-based diets is responsible for a 60% loss in biodiversity because of the strain on the Earth's resources. 

This made us think about MEATLESS MONDAYS a campaign that was successfully implemented in our school a few years ago. Students do not eat meat farmed in this way in the school dining room on Mondays.. and we encourage everyone to keep their Mondays completely meat free by avoiding meat during the whole day! 

As a reaction to this article it's not a huge sacrifice is it?

Thursday, 28 September 2017

Environmental News this week!

A group or Portuguese children are taking action on CLimate Change after the destructive forest fires that happened earlier this summer. They claim that governments are not acting quickly enough to combat the lethal effects of climate change, and are putting together a case to sue 47 European governments. Right now they are crowdfunding to raise the money to make the case happen!

Read more here

And some sad news for people who care about plastic... Donald Trump has reversed a ban on plastic bottles in a National Park in the USA. The ban had stopped 2 million bottles from being used!

Read more here

Reducing plastic is one of the aims of the Environmental Committee this year at Oak House!

Wednesday, 20 September 2017

Dia mundial sin coches - Este viernes 22 de Septiembre!

Can we get through Friday without using a car to join in with a world-wide initiative to have "No Car Day"?

Maybe we can do our bit by at least using the car less that day.. or thinking about how we might design our lives better to use less petrol...

Read more about what's happening in Barcelona here, and share your ideas in the comment section!