SOUTH PERTH STUDENTS

TAKE ACTION ON

CHANGING CLIMATE

Young people don’t have time for a talkfest over why the climate is changing. According to youth environmental organisation, Millennium Kids, the next generation is looking to safeguard their future with practical action now.

As part of their practical response to these issues hundreds of WA students have signed up to participate in a youth driven climate change program known as “The Big Switch Experiment” which will culminate in a week long Energy Action Week 5-11 March, 2010 in Western Australia.


(inset pic: Students from South Perth schools met with the Minister for Youth and the Environment Donna Farragher and brief her on the Energy Action Week)

Over the past two decades students across South Perth have said they are concerned about the state of our rivers and waterways, bushland, native animals, and the need to reduce our energy consumption. In 2009 students at seven South Perth schools participated in a series of Millennium Kids planning workshops and became part City of South Perth Sustainability Ambassadors. Each school has adopted its own plan of action with four of the schools committed to participating in the Energy Action Week in 2010 – South Perth Primary School, Penrhos College, Wesley College and Curtin Primary School.

Students at all of the South Perth schools have expressed their concern about the impact that Climate Change could have on the Swan River. Students from Curtin Primary school were among a number of young South Perth residents involved in planning the Big Switch Energy Action Week. Curtin Primary was the first school in the area to partner with Millennium Kids in 1996. In addition to participating in the Millennium Kids Big Switch Energy Action Week they are also involved in the City of South Perth project - Creatures of the Foreshore - which aims to feature and celebrate the children’s love of river creatures at the closing of the Fiesta on the first Saturday in March.

Four Year 7 Curtin Primary students, Samuel Hansen, Jack Hynam, V-E Tan and David Chang, met with Donna Farragher, Minister for Environment, on Wednesday 3 March to brief her on the project and invite her office to participate.

The Energy Action Week began with Clean Up Australia’s Friday Schools Clean Up Day on 5 March because young people want to see more co-ordination between sustainability projects and activities.

“We’ve been working with hundreds of students on this project over the past 12 months and they are very down to earth about what needs to be done and how to do it. They believe everyone needs to play their part and co-operation is the key,” said Catrina Aniere, CEO, Millennium Kids.

The Energy Action Week invites students to identify the number of households they enrol to participate in the 10 simple, week long energy reduction actions .

“The actions identified by young people are simple, everyday ones that they felt could be easily implemented and help change behaviour. They have given each action a star rating depending on its ability to reduce greenhouse gas,” said Ms Aniere.

More than 1500 households will be involved in the week long campaign including households inKalgoorlie and north and south of the swan.

At the end of the week results will be tallied on the Big Switch Experiment blogspot

The Big Switch Experiment pilot has been sponsored by the State Government Office of Energy and the City of South Perth.

Millennium Kids presents BSE to Minister

On Thursday 3rd December Millennium Kids reported presented the Big Switch Experiment to Minister for Environment; Youth Donna Faragher.

5 Millennium Kids Youth Board members, Alex (Wesley College), Kimberly (South Perth Primary), Celeste (St Hildas ASG), Luke (Como Secondary College) Kate (MK) and Millennium Kids CEO Catrina-Luz Aniere met with the Minister at Parliment House.

They reported on the biggest sustainability projects for 2009, The Big Switch Experiment, TravelSmart EatSmart and The Swan-Canning Online Schools Project. They showed the Minister the Animotos and Energy Checklist created by te students.

Making Plans for 2010

The Big Switch Experiment started in 2008 when Millennium Kids asked young people what they liked and what they did not like about their community. Climate Change was the number one concern, and as a result Millennium Kids has been working with students to develop this program that addressed issues of a changing climate.

Students were keen to adopt local waterways and bushland to understand how flora and fauna within that eco-system could be impacted by a changing climate.
Young people have researched, designed and developed a Map of Change that aims to get people to ‘switch their thinking’ and live more sustainably. The Map of Change outlines all of the projects that students would like to undertake under the Millennium Kids 8 Sustainability Pillars of Air, Water, Trees, Native Animals, Energy, Waste, Peace and Lifestyle and Leadership.

For 2010 Millennium Kids is giving you the opportunity to continue the Big Switch Experiment and take part in a series of activities that have been planned by the young people involved in 2009.

The activities for term 1 correlate with the Map of Change developed by the students and the MK Sustainability Pillars of Water, Leadership, Waste and Energy.

Double click on the Map of Change or the Calender of Events to get a closer look. Alternatively email pr@millenniumkids.com.au for a copy!

Goldfields Map of Change

On Wednesday 18th November 2009 students in the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder put their concerns into action with Phase 2 of The Big Switch Experiment, a kid-driven initiative that encourages people to take positive action against Climate Change.

To get the students thinking about sustainability we head out to Karlkurla Park to learn about the Great Western Woodland. “At almost three times the size of Tasmania, The Great Western Woodland stores about 700 million tonnes of carbon – which is equivalent to Australia’s entire annual emissions!” said Kate Laurendi, Millennium Kids Youth Board Member.

“Their Climate Change Campaigns will cover all areas of environmental sustainability – from energy use to air quality, the protection of native animals to conserving water and trees. Students will have the opportunity to use this workshop to plan Big Switch Experiment activities for their school in 2010” she said.

New IT technologies were also be a major focus with students learning how to get their messages heard in their community through photography, blogging and new state of the art Internet tools such as Animoto, Ning and Glogster.

The Kalgoorlie Miner and ABC Goldfields-Esperance also came down to the event to report on what the students were up to. To listen to the ABC Goldfields-Esperance Report Click here

GREEN FLASH MOB DANCE

To celebrate the launch of the BIG SWITCH EXPERIMENT ENERGY ACTION WEEK Millennium Kids will be holding a “Green Flash Mob Dance” in the City on Sunday 25th October.

A flash mob is defined as “a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse.” For an example of a flash mob check out youtube.com!

MK members will be gathering in the Perth Cultural Centre dressed fully in Green, and performing an improvised dance for 5 mins to highlight the launch of this energy saving week. It will be HEAPS of FUN!!

The Details:
DATE: Sunday 25th October 2009
TIME: 1pm for a 1.30pm Dance
LOCATION: Perth Cultural Centre, James St Perth. (look for a marquee that is sign posted as "THE GREEN ROOM")
WHAT TO WEAR: Your CRAZIEST green clothes! Wear ribbons in your hair, facepaint, streamers, the more attention grabbing the better!
REMEMBER: To bring your friends and family!
PRACTICE YOUR DANCE! Listen to the soundtrack and practice how you will dance on the day!




To register your interest email info@millenniumkids.com.au

Join Energy Week!

...

Do your part for the environment and get involved in the Big Switch Experiment Energy Week! Taking place on the 26th-30th October students will follow some simple steps to reducing their energy consumption in their home.

If you would like to get involved email info@millenniumkids.com.au !

The Fourth day of the Conference in Denmark

Tuesday 11th August 2009
Hi guys,

Welcome back to the fifth blog post from the Bright Green Youth Conference in Denmark.

Today presented the final 4 ideas that would go on to the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP15) in Copenhagen, December 2009.

These ideas were:
1. Rain power - using the power of rain and running the water through turbines which generates electricity and then the water is stored.

2. Speed bumps - using the force that is generated from driving over speed bumps to generate electricity.

3. Senergy - using sound on freeways and busy streets to generate electricity.

4. Climate Educators - creating a website that allows students and teachers to share and communicate their ideas on climate change.

We are going to continue to work on our ideas over the coming months to see how we can incorporate them into our Big Switch Projects back in WA.
We made so many great friends and we made so much progress towards Climate Change! It was a wonderful opportunity!

Lewis, Alex and Samantha

Edited by Luke McMillan

The third day of the Conference in Denmark

Monday 10th August 2009

Hi guys,

Welcome back to the fourth blog post from the Bright Green Youth conference in Denmark.

“Cultural ideas”

With roughly 300 people from around 41 different countries the views that were presented in our discussions were amazing. The different values that were shared by different cultures made it a truly fantastic experience and it is so much fun to take part in.

Some examples of this include:

The African representatives are very focussed on clean water.

The Russian representatives are focused on alternative energy sources.

The Indian representatives are focused on alternative transportation.

There are just so many views on climate change and what you put them all together the ideas that come out are simply amazing. We are having the judging of the ideas tomorrow but some of the ideas that we have seen so far include-

Rain energy

Renewable electric cars

Energy from toilet flushing

Clean water by using a complex system of reeds and microorganisms

And many more!!

The Second day of the Conference in Denmark

Sunday 9th August 2009
Hi Guys,

Welcome back to the third blog post from the Bright Green Youth Conference in Denmark.

Today was all about us except for the 3 hours where we sang a song called 500 Minds.

After that for 2 hours we got lectures on innovation, how climate change is effecting different countries and also one on how to rethink about climate change. It has been full on but worth it.

Today Samantha was in a national Danish newspaper (we have a copy but it is in Danish) and she even got her picture in there and it’s on page two.

Then the challenge began, we went back to our home group and split into two different groups. From that we had to decide on a solution to something.

Alexander’s group chose to have theirs on OPERATION MOSHI, which is about educating youth in the Moshi region about deforestation.

Samantha’s group was going to make fans to put behind aeroplanes before they lift off to harness the energy it releases. Their next idea was collect rainwater to make electricity.

Then we got to have coaches giving us feedback which Alex’s group went to Action about how to make the campaign and Sam’s group went to Technology to see what the men in suits thought about our biofuel plant.

From AlexanderCraig, Lewis Whitehurst, Samantha Fielder and Janelle McGann

Edited by Luke McMillan

The first day of the coference in Denmark

Saturday 8th of August 2009
Hi Guys,

Welcome back to the second blog post from the Bright Green Youth Conference in Denmark.

Today we went to the first day of the ‘Bright Green Youth’ conference and we were really excited about the prospects on what we were going to achieve.

We had breakfast with our host families and then were driven to ‘ALSION’ – the site of the conference.

All the delegates and chaperons meet in the giant auditorium and were introduced to what we will be doing on the next four days.

We then split into our home groups and we went a room to meet each other.

We were introduced to the process of what we were striving to achieve.

We discussed all the energy problems and environmental problems in the world. In Denmark 50% of the energy recourses is created by wind turbines placed all over Denmark. Unfortunately the other half of the energy is created by coal powered generators. But because of half their demanded energy is wind generated they have significantly reduced their carbon footprint.

After discussing the energy problems and environmental problems of the world, we had lunch. After lunch and we discussed the solutions to the problems and visions to the problems. That took us the end of day.

We were then collected up by our host families and went back to where we were staying for dinner.

After dinner we then went back for the official opening of the conference. The Crown Prince of Denmark - Prince Frederick was there! Sam and Alexander were less the half a meter away from the Prince when he walked on stage!! That was awesome!

From Alexander Craig, Lewis Whitehurst, Samantha Fielder and Janelle McGann

Edited by Luke McMillan

MK team in Hong Kong

Wednesday 5th August 2009

Hi Guys,

Welcome to our first blog from our journey to the Bright Green Youth Conference in Denmark.

When we arrived in Hong Kong after leaving from Perth we disembarked the plane and were immediately taken aback by the sheer size of the airport.

When we left the airport the humidity really kicked in and there was hot rain.

We caught two buses to the Po Lin Monastery for a vegetarian lunch and we were off to visit the “BIG BUDDA”. We were almost blown away because the wind was extremely strong.

When we were up the top it was a magnificent view and Alex’s hat almost blew away. Then we caught the cable car back to Tung Chung bus station and then caught the train to the Mon Kok, where we shopped.

Then we caught the train back to Hong Kong airport were we stayed until our flight disembarked Hong Kong at 11:15pm.

It seems than plastic bags were also not used as the shop assistants didn’t give us plastic bags when we purchased things in the airport. They also had a three way recycling bin one for paper, one for plastic bottles and another for cans.

It was very interesting to see the difference between rich and poor in Hong Kong. On one side of the street there were tall rich buildings and on the other side there were very poor buildings.

The Public Transport system in Hong Kong was very cheap and efficient. Every where we went there was public transport available to every one. All the public transport was powered by electricity. The only emissions in public transport are the creating of the electricity.

This may be a great step towards reducing climate change and if we can get this going on all around Aus and maybe powering them by solar power we would be giving the environment a big help.

From Alexander Craig, Lewis Whitehurst, Samantha Fielder and Janelle McGann

Edited by Luke McMillan

Tree Planting to Offset Carbon Emissions

Written by Luke McMillian (15)

On Sunday the 2nd of August Millennium Kids were invited by the City of South Perth to offset their carbon emissions by planting trees in New Norcia.

Our team had planted over 500 trees in just two and a half hours in the open fields just past the entrance of New Norcia.

We planted these trees in New Norcia because it is the area around where the Swan River begins and also to help prevent salinity.

As a thankyou to the City of South Perth for donating the air fares for 3 Millennium Kids to go to the Bright Green Youth Conference in Denmark, two of the delegates, Alexander Craig and Luke McMillan, participated as a way to offset the carbon they will create from the flights.

To celebrate and to thank us for our efforts, the New Norcia Hotel kindly gave us a complimentary roast lunch and a tour showing us parts of the town normal tours don’t get to see.

Most of the buildings that are there were built in the 1930’s and even further back like the 1800’s.

Congratulations Samantha, Alex, Luke and Lewis!!

Four West Australian Young People who will be representing Australia at the Bright Green Youth Conference – United Nations Climate Change Conference 11-13 August 2009 will be doing their last practical environmental work by planting reeds along the South Perth foreshore on Thursday between 10am-12pm

Samantha Fielder (15) from Kalgoorlie, Alexander Craig (15) South Perth and Luke McMillian (15) from Como of Millennium Kids and Lewis Whitehurst (16) from Riverton of South Perth Youth Network (SPYN) will be travelling to Sonderburg, Denmark for the UN Youth conference.

Bright Green Youth is the youth counterpart of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen in December. During the Conference, the West Australians will canvas the opinions and ideas of young people from around the world on Climate Change and they actions they would like to see take place to remedy it.

“Since 2008 Millennium Kids has asked hundreds of kids about what they liked and what they did not like about their community. Climate Change was a major concern in every community, so we developed the Big Switch Experiment to help kids make positive change” said Wesley College student, Alexander Craig.

Our Australian representatives will be telling the world all about the Millennium Kids’ Big Switch Experiment a kid-driven initiative that allows young people to have a say about Climate Change and create a map of change to ‘switch’ people’s thinking and get them to make more environmentally sustainable choices.

“The conference will also give us the opportunity to tell other kids about our project the Big Switch Experiment and they will be able to go on our blog – www.thebigswitchexperiment.blogspot.com and add their ideas to the project,” he said.

The students are really excited to be giving a voice to Australian young people about Climate Change on a world scale. “This is our chance to tell the world about how we are doing our bit to combat Climate Change through the Big Switch Experiment,” said Samantha Fielder from John Paul College, Kalgoorlie.

“Millennium Kids is about young people having a voice in the community, and they are giving us the opportunity to attend the UN Bright Green Youth Conference to represent the voices of young people all over WA.”

The fares for all participants have been sponsored by the City of South Perth, City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Kalgoorlie-Boulder Rotary Club, Wesley College and other sponsorship money is forthcoming.

NAMES TO BE ANNOUNCED!!

FOUR WA YOUTH REPRESENT
AUSTRALIA
AT
BRIGHT GREEN YOUTH -
UN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE DENMARK 2009

Official Announcement of the attendance of 4 young Western Australians at the international youth Climate Change Conference in Denmark with a presentation of a “guest book” and a celebration planting of reeds along the storm damaged foreshore of the Swan River followed by a BBQ.
Photo Opportunity: Group of 20 planting reeds on river foreshore
Time: 10am-12pm
Date: Thursday 16th July 2009
Location: Como Beach, adjacent to Kwinana Freeway at Preston Street overpass, South Perth. Tree planting will take place 200m south of that location.

MK REPRESENTS AUSTRALIA AT CONFERENCE!!

On the 6th August 2009, four young West Australians will be travelling to Sonderberg in Denmark to represent Millennium Kids at the Bright Green Youth Conference - UN Youth Climate Change Conference 2009.

Bright Green Youth is the youth counterpart of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen in December. During the Conference, the young people attending will come up with ideas and suggestions for what we can do to solve future climate challenges.

Our Australian representatives will be telling the world all about the BIG Switch Experiment- and we need your help to do it!

Please help us by answering these 4 Questions:

1. WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?

2. WHAT CAUSES CLIMATE CHANGE?

3. WHAT CAN WE DO TO SOLVE CLIMATE CHANGE?

4. DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE?

Write your answers to these questions by clicking on the 'comment' link below

Wesley Design's Cartoon Characters for the BSE!

Let us know what you think of these Cartoon Characters for the Big Switch Experiment by commenting below!

Jodee visits Wesley College

On the 22nd of May 2009 Jodee the Environmental Officer for the City of South Perth came to visit the Year 10 Climate Change students. She recieved a polite reception from the boys. The students asked numerous questions about the South Perth Foreshore and the erosion of the Como Beach wall. She said that a wall was knocked down this morning by heavy winds, rain and waves and that a stronger bigger wall would have to be built. Decades ago, before the wall was built the foreshore was a very nice beach where people would go to swim.

Brad asked what the City was doing to improve the habitat for swans. Jodee let them know that there used to be beautiful places for swans to breed and nest. However they are now all gone and the City is trying to recreate them around ponds.

The Wesley Boys look forward to seeing her again and assisting her campaign to improve the Swan River.

Let the Wesley Boys know what you think by leaving a comment below! :-)

St. Hilda's Junior School Adopt Ladner Park on HypeFM

"One of the biggest areas of concern for kids in Mosman Park is climate change. St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls Junior school is tackling it head on by adopting a piece of bushland right next to their school - Ladner Park. The MK Corner caught up with three Year 5 students - Sascha, Allie and Isobelle to explain their plan for the coming months."

If you would like to congratulate the St Hilda's Junior School for all their hard work, or would like to ask them a question please feel free to post a positive comment below!

Native ARC Releases Swans

In 2008 lots of students in the City of South Perth were keen to find out how drought and Climate Change were affecting birdlife in our wetlands. MK partnered with Native ARC to run workshops and education programs to find out more.

On Sunday 19th April Kate Laurendi our MK Reporter visited Native ARC as part of a release mission. A number of black swans had become ill in November due to photosynthesis, a blistering illness that affects their beak and skin. The swans were housed at Native ARC and treated by the Native ARC volunteers for a three month period until they were relocated back to Lake Monger on Sunday 19th April. All the swans were banded so their progress can be tracked on the lake. Millennium Kids reporter Kate Laurendi was on site to interview the volunteers on the day. Her report will be presented on HYPE 101.7fm on Thursdays from 4.30 – 6.00pm.

‘When the wetlands start to dry up we see the black swans and other bird life getting sick’ said Annie, a swan volunteer. “ We did not know about this disease until 2005 and we are seeing it more frequently: she said.” If you see a bird with a blue band on its leg that is sick or dead please call the Wildlife Carer Hotline 08 93340333 in Western Australia to report it so we can follow up and do more research on the illnesses.

By Emily, Year 4 Millennium Kids Member

On Sunday 5th of April, the Millennium Kids went to Native ARC and looked at some of the different animals that were being kept there, but first we walked down a path and looked for animal tracks and holes. We also talked about what would need improving in that environment and how animals have been killed and their eggs destroyed. Then we looked at the animals inside. We looked at a bobtail, a bandicoot, and a carpet snake. Then we went outside and looked at the bat boxes hanging on the trees and counted how many there were. We also looked at the birds, and gave the pelicans and swans clean water and baths. It was very intresting and the Millenium Kids learnt a lot about the animals.

Have you been to Native ARC? Tell us what you learnt about the animals by commenting below!

Millennium Kids at Native ARC

Millennium Kids (MK) ran a workshop at Native ARC, a native animal rehabilitation centre, in Bibra Lake, Western Australia on 6th April 2009. The kids visited the local wetland and looked for tracks and scats. They found evidence of lots of rabbits – not a local native species. They found lots of bats boxes, but no traces of scats near the boxes. Nanna Suzanne, a visiting grandmother, noticed a dead bobtail which the kids studied.

After the bush walk the kids met some of the animals in the centre. The found out about a baby bandicoot that is being reared by the centre as it had been attacked by another bandicoot. The kids heard that if an animal gets attacked by cats bacteria gets into the wound and can kill the native animal unless it gets special medicine. They also found out that bobtails are getting the flu now and need special care before they can be returned to the wild.

The kids met Teori(16), a local volunteer who taught them how to care for and handle a non venomous snake.

After all the fun the kids did some work to help the ARC. They visited the swan enclosure and cleaned out the small ponds and heard about how the drought was affecting the wetlands and some of the swans where getting sick. The kids are going to draw pictures of a new swan enclosure to help the ARC provide better facilities for the swans. “It needs to have clean water,” said Jack, a Sustainability Ambassador for the City of South Perth.

Millennium Kids has adopted the ARC to help people learn about the pressures on Native Animals because of changes in habitat.

“I want to be a Millennium Kid,” said Emily(8) a newcomer to the MK program. “This is such fun!”

If you would like to be involved in any Millennium Kids activites give the Office a call on 9364 1200 or email info@millenniumkids.com.au

Don't for get to leave your comments below!

Paul Llewellyn Contributes to the Blog!

I think it is important to remember that the world is fundamentally a safe place and that there have always been dangers and dragons that make us feel unsafe. That is why we need courage – to see the dangers and to take action anyway. ( I often need a cape). I would love to see us all telling our stories about the world we want to live in. What will it look like? How will we be living? Where will our food come from? What will our homes and neighbourhoods look like? And then , what do we have to do tomorrow and the next day to get there?

Dreams and visions are the foundation of change.

-Paul Llewellyn MLC

Greens Member for the South West Region

Let Paul know how you feel about Climate Change by leaving a comment below!

Questions on Climate Change!

Last year Millennium Kids interviewed over 150 students to find out the questions they want answered about Climate Change. Have a read and let us know what you think by commenting below!

· Will it ever stop?
· Why isn’t anything we do to stop it helping?
· Why don’t people help?
· Why doesn’t the people of Australia just stop carbon emissions?
· Will it ever destroy our life?
· Why do people not care about it?
· If everyone would help, what would climate change look like?
· Can I have tips on how to change the world?
· Can I have more ways to stop climate change?
· Why do people cause too much climate change?
· What’s the biggest cause?
· How can we help climate change stop?
· What is the worse form of greenhouse gas?
· What can schools do to be more green?
· Is there a way to stop greenhouse gases?

· How long will it be before climate change has a major effect on the world?
· How many % do cars pollute the world?
· How much CO2 on average does Perth give off every year?
· How many megatons of methane and CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere each year?
· Why is everything happening so slowly?
· How long do we have (estimated) until climate change takes full effect?
· How hot will it get?
· How does energy cause carbon dioxide in the air? · Why doesn’t the government take charge and help more?
· Have you tried to slow it down?
· Why do we do it?
· What could happen in 100 years if we kept on using too much power (would we be extinct)?
· Will we be able to survive climate change?
· Why do people doing pollution even when they know what climate change is?
· If we slow down the greenhouse effect, will we ever be able to recover the damage done?
· Why must the rich be so greedy and not give to others?
· How can we reduce the amount of fossil fuels we use?
· If we stop making so many greenhouse gases, will the world cool down again?

· If everyone does the right thing, will the earth be able to fully recover?

Big Switch Think Tank Team Como Senior College

19 Year 10 students from Como Senior College met to discuss the things they liked about their community and the things they didn’t like.

The students will be working with an animator and a broadcaster to develop a strategy to get key messages out intot the community about taking care of the environment.

The things they did not like included:
Too Many Plastic Bags

• They need to be recycle
• people need to dispose of them thoughtfully
• they get dumped in the river and animals die because they eat them
• they are not bio degradable
• no one wants to give them up
• they are too easy to obtain
• people throw them everywhere
  

Too much traffic

• Public transport is always late
• They go too fast in residential areas
• People drive when they should walk, ride, cycle or catch public transport
• Deaths on the road are increasing
• Need more car laws – people are too slow or too fast
  

Trees and Logging

• Wildlife is disappearing
• Too many fires in forests
• Entire forests are being cut down
• Less trees = more pollution
• Pollution kills trees
• Endangering animals due to destruction of natural habitats
• No trees = no oxygen – will we die?

River

• Drought affects the river
• Fish are dying
• Pollution in the river
• Decline in water levels
• Rubbish chucked into the river
• Not safe to swim in
• Not enough care taken to look after the river
• An abundance of boats
• Stray animals get stuck in it

St Hilda's Join The Big Switch Experiment!

St Hilda’s Junior School in Mosman Park has joined the Big Switch Experiment to develop a range of sustainability activities for the year. Already in 2009 the school has set up a student Sustainability Ambassadors Committee which has started meeting to make decisions about the school and sustainability programs.

In March the school launched their program which was celebrated as part of National Harmony Day with the Wesley ‘Moodijt’ Dancers performing for the whole school. The ceremony celebrated our Indigenous heritage with the boys performing many dances about local native animals. After the celebration the girls took part in a symbolic activity at a local park, where they officially adopted on the day. They agreed to take care of the plants and the native animals in the area and will work with the Town of Mosman Park and Millennium Kids to create a planting program at the park.

The school has also made their weekly newsletter electronic and have started a guest speaker program, where the local IGA owner Phil Buzzard talked about his NO PLASTIC BAG campaign for his local shops in Cottesloe and Mosman Park.

Tell us what your school is doing to help prevent Climate Change by leaving a comment below!

MK Think Tank Research the River

Millennium Kids Youth Board visited New Norcia 150km from Perth on a mission to better help them understand out history and how we use and manage water in the Avon – Swan River Catchment
New Norcia Water Tanks
By Samuel and Jack - City of South Perth Youth Sustainability Ambassadors

When we went with Millennium Kids to New Norcia every single building had at least one water tank. The Monks used water tanks because they needed fresh water and all the water in their well had gone salty because they had cut all of the trees down.

All the water tanks prove that New Norcia is very water conscious because it is in the middle of dry land.

New Norcia has way more water tanks than Perth.


Our Trees at Calingiri
By Savannah, Darcy and Zoe - City of South Perth Youth Sustainability Ambassadors

During the Millennium Kids Leadership program we visited Calingiri . Penrhos College has been planting trees at Calingiri since 1996 with Year 5 students attending every year.

The river at Calingiri is very muddy and not clear. Before Penrhos started planting there were only trees on the horizon. Now there is an expanse of bush land.

One of the interesting ways of planting trees is making a mud ball with seeds inside them and when it rains the mud disintegrates and the seeds grow into trees.

The Avon River Toodyay.
By Dana and Kimberly - City of South Perth Youth Sustainability Ambassadors

At the Avon River we noticed that the water was extremely low. It was also polluted with rubbish, oil from cars that pass over on the bridge and salt.

Because people have been cutting down trees salt has risen from underground and rain has washed it into the river.

We observed that there were lots of signs that said that they were restoring the river.

Wesley Boys Care for Swan River

Over the coming months Year 10 Students at Wesley College will be doing their part to care for the Swan River as apart of The Big Switch Experiment.

This week, the boys came up with some interesting facts while investigating the river around Sir James Mitchell Park in South Perth.

This is what they found:

Jordan - Swans tend to stay in pairs. These days there aren't many places for swans to have babies because of the loss of their habitiat.

Josh - The City of South Perth has replaced the river walls with a beach to stop erosion and save money.

Tom Murray - A lot less people use the river compared with 100 years ago. It is no longer used as a main mode of transportation.

Kallen - There are Jelly fish in the Swan river.

Lachlan - The area around Sir James Mitchell Park was cleared in 1896 for use in agriculture.

Alexander - Due to the pollution from people, boats and farms in the river there are algal blooms.

Adriaan - The Coode St Jetty was built in 1896.

Tom Bosley - There are many non-native trees in the area.

Meng-Yeow - Sir James Mitchell Park used to be apart of the Swan River while it was still a wetland.

Have you got an interesting fact about the Swan River? Leave a Comment below! We would love to hear from you!