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Earthship Assembly / Presentation

Over a period of four years Green Up Your Act worked with the Low Carbon Trust organising school visits and providing environmental workshops in the award winning Brighton Earthship.

Earthship Brighton is an off-grid building that heats, cools , powers itself from the sun and harvests its water from the sky.

Through interactive presentations, we take pupils on a virtual tour of the building’s impressive range of sustainable technology; including solar panels, a wind turbine, rainwater harvesting and the eye catching recycled materials used in the construction of the building.

The Power of Trees Assembly / Presentation

Trees play a huge role in storing carbon from the atmosphere, which makes them vital in the fight against climate change.

We need to increase tree cover in the UK to meet targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions. In this presentation, pupils will learn about the environmental benefits of planting trees. As well as understanding that as we return trees to the landscape, we improve our habitats for wildlife; with mammals, insects, birds, and butterflies becoming abundant as nature takes hold.

Food Miles Assembly / Presentation

Food and its relationship with the environment is often overlooked. 

50% of the food we buy is imported to the UK and 1/3 of it never gets eaten. As part of this presentations participants learn how far food travels by tracing the journeys of different varieties of fruit and vegetables.  As a school we discuss together how food is grown, the benefits of fresh food and the responsibility we all have, to reduce the huge amount of wasted food and excess packaging which is produced every day.

Plastic in our ocean Assembly / Presentation

In this assembly on marine litter, we learn at and discuss the use of single use plastic and their alternatives.

Plastic is a part of our daily lives, whether it be a bottle, a straw, or plastic bag, it makes up a large part of the materials we regularly use. When carelessly discarded plastic reaches our seas, it poses a threat to the animals that live there and depend on the oceans for food. To a dolphin, a floating plastic bag looks like a jellyfish and small pieces of floating plastic look like fish to seabirds. Drifting nets entangle birds, fish and mammals, making it difficult to move or eat. As our consumption of plastic mounts, so too does the danger to marine life.

Rainforest Assembly / Presentation

The destruction of the rainforest is one of the largest environmental issues facing mankind. In this assembly we take a look at some of the causes of deforestation.

The presentation starts by listening to the sounds of the rainforest. We quickly discover that rainforests are one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. They contain two-thirds of all the world’s plant and wildlife species. For example a single hectare of tropical rainforest may have as many as 200 species of trees. Large areas of rainforest have been cleared to make way for cattle farming and soya bean production. The removal of commercially valuable hardwoods such as teak and mahogany have accounted for most of the lost species.

  • The workshop was pitched at just the right level for the children. They were interested and engaged. They enjoyed the hands on experience of making the newspaper pots and handling the objects. Thanks for a great workshop!
    Gaynor HopeNelson Primary School
  • "Many thanks for all your workshops today – the children really loved them, and it got across some simple but important messages. It was a great addition to our Eco Day!"
    Eleanor WalkerVictoria Park School, Bristol – Eco School Leader
  • "The Green Shoots workshop was excellent! Teaching the children about food, and where it comes from in a fun and interactive way. I’m sure we will all think twice about  food miles. Many thanks we look forward to working with you again."
    Mrs GoodwinOur Lady’s Catholic School
  • We really enjoyed our workshop with Philip Hunton it was thought provoking. The students were engaged to think about, food waste, packaging nutrition, and global perspective. They thoroughly enjoyed the workshop this will be a good reminder for them to think green.
    Mrs Diane Calvert The Prebendal School (Chichester Cathedral School)
  • "This workshop was well organised and led effectively by Philip. The introduction included assessing children’s prior knowledge of environmental issues with a focus on where energy comes from. The children enjoyed looking at the products made from recycled materials, and they were very engaged in the group discussion about what they were made from.  The activity was explained clearly step by step at an appropriate level for for various ages. Help and advice were provided through the practice sessions. The children were proud of what they produced, the wallets were the talk of the playground. The children will have a permanent reminder of the lesson. As ECO Co-ordinator I feel I can build on this lesson for next year. The day has been fantastic! Thank you so much."
    Louise HampsonECO CO-ordinator – Swan Ridge Primary School
  • Thank you so much for today. The kids reported back very positively to their classes and were very proud of their wallets. I think everyone was suitably impressed by the Earthship ideal and we’re looking forward to telling the whole school about it in our energy assembly and asking the right questions about our new sustainable school building. We have a lot to think about in school now and I know what they learned today will give them a confident start to making an energy plan and putting it into action.
    Jo Slater Eco Co-ordinatorSomerhill Junior School
Green up your Act
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