During a meeting with Green Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons, Ralph Adler and Zella Dowling, Mount Aspiring College students have been learning about and exploring how MAC could be come a climate friendly college.
NOTES FROM THE MEETING
What is MAC already doing? What can we do better?
Saving energy
Team Green has done in the past and can resume the Switch off campaign (Make it flick stickers and posters) and the monthly Earth Hour (Period 6 Last Friday of each month).
To go further… do we actually need to turn on again after? Do we need it? This is a key phrase, in general!
At MAC, the biggest energy problem for the environment is our coal plant. We could lobby to get it changed. Write a letter to Board of Trustees, Mr Bosley, Architects, Ministry for the Environment.
And we have 8 solar panels. We want more! Continue fundraising. Ask in the letter.
Transport
Make a transport survey. Is it cool to bike? Is it cool to walk? The reward is in itself, health, cool… A hand survey in the year 9 group showed that many students already walk, bike or take the bus to school. Surely more can be done.
For the school’s trip, asking for electric vehicles. Our vehicles are second hand after local ski resorts. Asking them for electric vehicles!
Food
Encourage compartment lunchboxes, more sandwich wraps, these are opportunities for fundraisers. Resume the bring your cup deal at the canteen. https://macteamgreen.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/canteen-deal/
Waste
Team Green has installed paper recycling and recycling in the college, because it diverts lots from landfill (cheaper), because we earn trees from paper and cardboard recycling via Paper4Trees.
We yearly check it is functioning and campaign for its good use.
Improvement: Explain why? “Do I need it” campaign? Encourage electronics use. Good on one side bins. Double-sided printing by default.
“Think before you print sticker” to add at the bottom of emails
Canteen: Do they have leftovers?
School compost, also from lawn clipping.
| Measure | How important | How much $$ | How Easy | Action |
| Lights | Less important because 80% of energy is renewable | Save $$ | Easy | Switch campaign, switch stickers |
| Travel to School | It would be important but a lot of people already bike so maybe quite good | Nothing to school – Save money for families | Each individual decision – lots of communication | Survey
Calculate how much petrol this uses Find out who else has done survey already |
| Travel by School | Quite important | Will become cheaper but big initial cost | Not easy | Petition to Cardrona and Treble Cone so they have electric buses
(Also ask for gondola for climate change) |
| Coal burner | Very Important | Big | Letter to BOT to ask for renewables energy and better insulation | |
| Heat Pumps | Less important because 80% of energy is renewable | Saves money | Easy | Switch campaign, switch stickers |
| Waste:
Paper Food Food wrappers |
Quite important | Not much money | Not easy!
Showing them Notices |
We want compost and garden: lawn clippings, leaves, food scraps, canteen waste, food tech waste, a bit of wood ashes |
Present Team Green members vote to focus on collecting food waste to a compost and perhaps make a garden for food for the canteen. We need to get the caretaker and canteen support.
To avoid having much work with the garden, we can still do compost and sell it (fundraiser!). In Dunedin, a school has a matching system who wants it who doesn’t want it.
So working on collecting food waste and establishing a compost will be Team Green focus in term 2.
