Environmental Committee

Environmental Committee

At the Fort Street High School Environmental Committee, run by Ms Maddox and co-presidents Gina Hong and Michelle Tran, we not only aim to increase the diversity and maintain the natural environment of Fort Street, but also advocate for environmental justice concerning areas globally with a focus on Australia.

A subcommittee of the Environmental Committee, which Ms Catalan coordinates, also composts the school’s fruit and vegetable scraps. These composting bins can be found at the Oval near the cricket nets, at the Kilgour Quad and also near the Canteen. There are also staff compost bins at the Front Office, Cohen and Rowe staff rooms. 

Students from year 7 to 12 assist with the school composting by collecting these bins and emptying them at the aerobin in the Rowe Quad. They work in pairs on scheduled days that rotate each term. We would like to congratulate these individuals who have taken on a significant role and responsibility within the school community as the food waste cannot be left overnight. 

Ms Catalan also does an enormous amount of work to ensure that composting duties and composting at the school runs smoothly. Ms Karanikolas at the Front Office is also a vital link in the chain of communication that makes this possible. Thank you to the students and the teachers that assist that make composting possible at our school!

The school is encouraged to use these composting bins because food waste produces three times the carbon emissions as that of the aviation industry. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that a third of all food produced worldwide is taken to landfill, and each tonne taken to landfill produces the equivalent of one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions in the form of methane. 

Recently, we have also been partaking in weekly to fortnightly gardening sessions that involve maintaining Fort Street’s plants. One of our sessions focused on filling up bags with mulch, and adding a surrounding layer of it around the trees along Palace Street that we planted over the last few terms to protect them from weeds and keep them hydrated.

The Environmental Committee will also be involved with a new initiative at our school called Greening Australia: Cooling the Schools. Greening Australia works with schools to connect students with nature through free planting sessions that empower them to create wildlife habitats, reduce urban heat and increase tree canopy cover in schools. On Thursday, May 25th, they will be giving Fort Street a visit, as it has been chosen for a huge planting project in Term 3. Representatives from the initiative will assist the Environment Committee in planting 200 canopy and understorey plants around the school.  

Taking part in this initiative allows Fort Street to be more involved with First Nations’ environmental direction, as students directly learn about the environmental and cultural benefits of planting native trees for First Nations cultures, urban cooling and biodiversity.

In terms of activism, we cover many environmental issues, ranging from fossil fuels to endangered native species. A fossil fuel company wants to drill for climate-wrecking gas in Western Australia’s oceans; its Burrup Hub project is the most polluting fossil fuel proposal in Australia today, producing gas until 2070, and severely endangering marine life at risk. 

In addition, we have also engaged in activism regarding a superannuation fund, which claims it’s encouraging meaningful change for generations to come. However, it currently invests billions in companies with fossil fuel expansion plans, undermining our chances of avoiding catastrophic climate change. This includes more than half a billion dollars in oil and gas giants which are expanding fossil fuels in a way that is incompatible with the goals of the Paris Agreement. As an act of prevention, all Environmental Committee members signed a petition to end fossil fuel use in Australia, and wrote to the superannuation fund to let them know that we don’t want them investing money in expanding fossil fuel companies. 

More recently, the Environmental Committee has engaged with the threats that logging poses to Koala populations. NSW’s most significant koala populations are under threat due to logging that has been prioritised by NSWForestry in the Pine Creek State Forest, which has intensified logging to the announcement of a Great Koala National Park. Members have written letters outlining why the logging of prime koala habitats should be suspended, as it will destroy them, and the Great Koala National Park will be in name only.

Through regular planting sessions, the Environmental Committee contributes to the diversification and thorough maintenance of Fort Street’s natural habitats, as well as advocating for better treatment of Australia’s environment through writing, signing and sending letters to organisations and ministers with significant power.

Overall, the Environmental Committee is a vital part of Fort Street’s community that allows all to get involved with the safekeeping of our environment!

 

Written by Akshaya Rameshbabu and Sammy Anand on behalf of the Environmental Committee