This week in Eco Club, we learned how winter can be a difficult time for local birds, as natural food sources become scarce. Inspired by Laudato Si’ and our call to care for God’s creation, we thought about how small actions can make a big difference. By supporting local wildlife, we are living out our responsibility to protect and respect all living things that share our common home.

We used all natural, biodegradable materials to make our bird feeders to ensure that they do not harm the environment. To create our bird feeders, we mixed bird food and dried fruit with vegetable fat and pressed the mixture onto pine cones. We placed our bird feeders around the school grounds to provide a healthy food source for local birds and support them through the winter.

We had lots of fun creating our bird feeders, although it was very messy!

In Eco Club this week, we learnt about the different types of energy we use in our daily lives. We discussed the energy we use in our school and in our homes. We found out that energy is needed for heat and light and thought about the appliances and devices that produce heat and light.

We learnt that burning fossil fuels releases the gas carbon dioxide (CO2). There are 500 million trucks and cars around the world all releasing CO2 into the air. This warms up the Earth, which causes the polar ice caps to melt and more extreme weather to occur like hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis.

We found out that using too much energy, like electricity, is expensive and harmful to the environment. We teamed up with the School Council to take part in Switch Off Fortnight, encouraging everyone in our school to switch off lights, appliances and devices when we are not using them. We are encouraging everyone to save energy to protect our common home.

We made posters to be displayed around school to promote the event, and our school councillors led an assembly to tell everyone about our campaign.

As part of our call to care for God’s creation, inspired by Laudato Si’, we planted colourful flowers in our new garden planters. By planting and caring for our flowers, we are helping to make our school environment more beautiful for everyone to enjoy. We hope they will inspire our school community to notice and appreciate the wonder of God’s creation all around us.

We learned how caring for nature is part of our mission as Stewards of God’s Earth. Stewardship reminds us that God has entrusted the Earth to us, and we must look after it with love and responsibility.

We built our gardening skills by preparing the soil in our new garden planters and planting bright, colourful flowers. We certainly found plenty of worms along the way!

 

Laudato Si’ is Pope Francis’ special letter to everyone on our planet, reminding us that God created our wonderful common home and we all share the responsibility to care for it. He encouraged us to notice the beauty of creation, to protect the environment, and to treat each other with kindness, fairness and respect.
Ten years on, his message continues to inspire children and adults across the world to make choices that look after the world and our global neighbours.

We watched CAFOD’s Laudato Si’ animation to remind ourselves of Pope Francis’ message and shared our thoughts on how the letter has made a difference over the last 10 years.

We wrote postcards to Pope Francis to thank him for his guidance. We explained how his teachings have inspired our actions at school and at home.

This week, we have been planting some seeds and bulbs in our planters that will bloom in springtime. We hope that these new flowers will create more habitats and sources of food for our local insects. We can’t wait to watch them grow!

This week, our Eco Club children learnt all about the positive changes that groups of children their age are making in communities around the world.

In Lima, there is an area called Lomas de Carabayllo. It is one of the most polluted areas of the city, and there is also a lack of space for children to play.

In the district there is an area called the Lomas de Primavera, part of a chain of hills and mountains which are known as Lima’s green lung. But this area is under threat from land traffickers, people who illegally sell the land to others, and mining companies who are trying to invade the area.

In several local schools there are eco-brigades, whose job is to be environmental leaders and protectors. They do a range of activities to protect the environment.
By planting and protecting trees they are helping the planet breathe.

Inspired by the story of The Eco Brigade, we painted leaves of inspiration for the upcoming academic year. We paid close attention to the intricate design of each leaf, God’s design. We hope that they will inspire us on our mission to care for God’s creation this year.

 

This week, our Eco Club children shared their ideas for what they would like to achieve this academic year.

After this, we went out into the local area to pick up litter and clean our streets. We talked about how our actions will have a positive impact on our local community and on the environment. We are acting for the good of everyone and helping to care for God’s gifts.

 

The children were so excited to see the fruits of their labour when they returned to school after the summer holidays! Our wildflower garden was bursting with colour and wildlife. The bees and butterflies love the new environment we have created for them.