Changing Times

As you may have heard there have been some changes in the Education Department that will affect the way that Learning for Sustainability will take place in the NT. The new structure of the department means that there will not be a designated officer in this position. Learning for Sustainability is however still high on the agenda and support for schools and external agencies will continue to be provided through a broad range of strategies

The main contact with regard to all Learning for Sustainability initiatives in Central Australia will be Karen Loto
e-mail:- karen.loto@nt.gov.au
phone:- (08) 8951 7017

Teachers wanting support with curriculum planning, writing and implementing their Sustainability Education Management Plan (SEMP) or planning for learning at the Alice Springs Desert Park can contact Karen.

There will also still be support for schools involved in all aspects of the Sustainable Schools Initiative, including the Energy Smart Schools, Water Wise Schools, Alice Solar Schools, Re-thinking Waste in Schools, Schools Environmental Tracking System (SETS) and Creating Arid Zone Gardens. Karen will be able to tell you who to contact for each of these.

The Alice Springs Desert Park will remain free to all NT schools and the staff there will be happy to support you with logistical planning for your visit.

For professionals outside of education developing resources for schools there is now a Materials Development team in place. The Education Department will also continue to provide Professional Learning opportunities for non teachers that find themselves running activities and learning experiences for kids. Again contact Karen Loto for more information.

As for me, I am heading overseas for a while to study Strategies for Creative Social Change at Schumacher College and also to learn more about Transition Towns and the Transition Culture.

As I have become accustomed to using this blog as archive of inspiring resources and ideas I have set up my own Learning for Sustainability blog. This has really been set up for my own use, a place to keep all the interesting things I find and experience, but you may find some of it interesting too. There is a permanent link to Emma's New Blog in the "Blogs You Might Like" section.

And finally...

Thanks

Thanks to everyone that I have had the pleasure to work with over the last four and a half years. It really has been an amazing experience, I have thoroughly loved my work in this position.

Emma Bliss

Contact Emma

8 ways to reuse a 2 litre drink botle

New EPA Resource for Teens

EPA USA SECONDARY SCHOOL WEBSITE

This Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Web site "Your Environment, Your Choice" was designed especially for high school students to help make environmentally sound choices about the products they use, the waste they create, and the environment in which they live.

Rethinking Waste in Schools

If your school hasn't registerd for this please consider it as it is a great way to muster enthusiasm amongst staff and keep the momentum going.

The Keep Australia Beautiful Website and the wikispace developed for this project will give you more information.

Wikis are a great way for students to work collaboratively to document their planning and their projects development and share with others. If you would like to know more about how you can use wikis with your class check out the Using Wikis page.

If you would like to join the rethinking waste wiki please contact louise.fogg@nt.gov.au and she will make you a member.

Re-Thinking Waste in Schools Workshop

Eight teachers from 5 Central Australian schools and 7 environmental experts from Alice Springs all met at the Desert Park today for the Re-Thinking Waste in Schools workshop.

The workshop was run through a wikispace which the teachers will continue to use to collaborate, share and plan both their units of work and the Big Waste Day Out celebration in August 2008. At the same time a group of Top End schools met in Darwin and were using the same wikispace to plan their own units of work and the Darwin Big Waste Day Out. To find out more and to see what the teachers are planning visit their re-thinking waste challenge wikispace


Teachers are planning all sorts of programs to create fun learning opportunities for their students that are purposeful and contextualised in the areas of reducing water, energy, litter and resource use, and increasing recycling and creative ways to deal with our waste.

If you want to join in with the Re-Thinking Waste Challenge, please contact emma.bliss@nt.gov.au (or louise.fogg@nt.gov.au if you are in the Top End)

The Re-Thinking Waste in Schools Central Australia Project is a collaborative initiative of Keep Australia Beautiful, DEET (Teaching Learning and Standard Division), NRETA (Waterwise and Alice Springs Desert Park) Gardens for Wildlife, DKA COOLmob, The Bowerbird Tip Shop and the Arid Lands Environment Centre.

Visualising your carbon emissions

Re-Thinking Waste Launch at the Bowerbird Tip Shop

Where better to launch the re-thinking waste initiative than at the Bowerbird Tip Shop.

Yamba, Wurgle and students from OLSH were at the Bowerbird on Tuesday to look at many alternatives for waste, from landfill to works of art.

Lucy Sneddon of the Arid Lands Environment Centre launched the program with a talk on the choices we have with regard to what to do with our waste. Also there supporting the program were Michelle Walker of the Waterwise Schools program, Kat Taylor from CoolMob and Heidi Groffen from Land for Wildlife.

Many thanks to the staff of the Bowerbird for allowing us to use their inspiring venue.

The re-thinking waste in schools pilot program will run for a year and will culminate in a celebration of artisic performance and waste workshops at the Araluen in August 2008. A workshop for teachers will be held on 30th November at the Desert Park. Teachers interested in being involved are invited to contact Emma.Bliss@nt.gov.au.