Green Schools

Here in St. Patrick’s, we are currently working on our seventh Green Flag. We started working on the Green Schools programme in 2004, and were awarded our first flag way back in 2005. The theme of the flag we are currently working on is “Global Citizenship-Energy.” This flag is particularly appropriate for our school, as we currently have 28 different nationalities represented.

This is a maintenance theme, which means it gives us a chance to revise the Energy theme while looking at issues surrounding energy on a global scale. The most obvious global link to the energy theme is of course Climate Change, the most serious environmental problem of our time and is intrinsically linked to our energy use.

Below are some terms you might come across!

Climate Change:

Global climate is the average climate over the entire planet. Scientists and people generally are worried about this because Earth’s global climate is changing. The planet is warming up fast – faster than at any time scientists know about from their study of Earth’s entire history.

Global Warming:

Because there are more and more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, more heat is trapped which makes the Earth warmer. This is known as Global Warming. A lot of scientists agree that our actions are making the Greenhouse Effect worse.

Renewable Energy:

Renewable energy sources include solar energy (which comes from the sun and can be turned into electricity and heat), wind energy, geothermal energy (from inside the earth), biomass from plants, and hydropower from water.

Fossil Fuels:

Fossil fuels are essentially the remains of plants and animals. They provide us with a source of non-renewable energy. Fossil fuels can come in the form of oil. Coal or natural gas. They are the result of the decomposition of dead plant and animal matter buried deep in the Earth’s crust.

What is a Citizen?

Generally, a citizen is someone who is a member of a political community, group or state. Being a citizen brings rewards and responsibilities.

Most of us are citizens of Ireland. This means we get to vote, have our say and enjoy the good things about living here. However we must also obey the laws and pay taxes when we are older.

Being a citizen also means we must behave in a moral and socially acceptable way….. to make sure life is good for everyone.

Thinking Globally.

We must try to think “globally.” This means thinking about the whole world. Things we do here in Ireland can have an effect in other places. Lots of our food comes from different parts of the world. Lots of people in our school come from different parts of the world.

We will try to “act locally, think globally.”