EE Friends Quarterly Newsletter
April 2015
W
e put so much effort into practicing and preaching
the ‘three Rs’, but waste is about so much more
than just the ‘stuff’ - resources, time, passion,
money and energy, all can be wasted.
Time is precious and we regularly feel the implications of that.
No matter how much we want to attend meetings, we are over
-committed and short of time. So, going forward we are going
to try a new approach to meetings. We will host only two per
year, but they will be full-day events, with a half day of activities
and a half-day for sharing and other regular meeting issues. This
will provide flexibility to attend sessions, or the whole day; and
will provide more time to share and learn from one another.
GOALS OF THE EE FRIENDS
To enable networking and communication amongst
environmental educators.
To share ideas, information, programmes and
resource materials.
To provide opportunities to learn and be informed.
To improve coordination of environmental
education activities.
To enable people to participate in decision-making
and advocacy.
To enable members to promote their initiatives.
Six simple steps in the journey to a happier and healthier world
The Two Oceans Aquarium has launched a campaign that looks at six waste materials that have a
significant impact on the marine environment and what can be done to reduce that impact.
UMOJA
Makers of
reusable bags!
Liliane Mukidi
076 461 7036
For more information: Hayley McLellan at campaigns@aquarium.co.za or 021 814 4532
Mitchells Plain Primary launches a recycling programme
Mitchells Plain Primary No 1 School launched their school recycling programme in
September 2014 after months of planning. A committee was formed and held
meetings weekly to ensure preparation details were sorted. WESSA Eco-Schools
facilitated a session on environmental education, focussing on recycling and the
curriculum. A recyclables collection cage was delivered to be collected weekly.
Just before the launch, the City of Cape Town’s waste edutainment team
delivered a hip-hop style performance at an assembly on recycling. The headmaster gave a talk about why and
how learners should participate and encouraged all to join in. Information support materials were produced
including fridge magnet info-cards, letters for parents, drawstring recyclables bags, posters for classrooms, and a
banner for the collection cage.
The launch was a success and an additional collection cage had to be installed soon
after. The school will initially use funds raised to buy benches made of recycled plastic.
The programme was supported by Metropolitan Life and facilitated by GreenEdge, an
environmental communications company.
For more information: Hugh Tyrrell at info@greenedge.co.za or 021 448 8123
EE Events and Projects Gallery
With materials collected from a local dump, Wendy Hitchcock of EcoActivities, recently built an insect hotel to complement her Grade 2
lessons on Mini-beasts. We look forward to seeing how the project
progresses over time and with further input from the learners.
Grade 5 learners from Sweet Valley visited the
Green Point Urban Park to experience a bit of
Khoi San life. They role-played their hunting skills
and crushed ochre to paint (25 February).
Gr 7 teacher workshop on variation
A two day workshop was held at
Edith Stephens Nature Reserve,
focussing on the difference
between variation within a species
and variation between species. The
practical activities were simple but
engaging and helped teachers to
better understand the concepts. To
measure variation within a species
they recorded the pulse rate of the
teachers and drew graphs to show
these differences.
Responsible Tourism tried something different by
hosting two public flash mobs at the V&A
Waterfront and St George’s Mall to raise awareness
about responsible tourism among over 1000 tourists
and members of the public. Messages were
delivered through drama (12-13 February).
Share your work and exciting activities
On the second day they
investigated variation between
species by looking at leaf shapes of
plants outside. Teachers realised
you can do this with any plants,
without knowing any names, the
important thing is to encourage
children to be outside, looking at
living things, with something
constructive to measure.
PSP runs regular teacher workshops, check out their website.
Email photos with captions to
EE.Friends@capetown.gov.za
Educators exploring coastal biodiversity and
exercising their inner artists at a Blue Flag Teacher
Workshop at Silwerstroomstrand (26 March).
The EE Friends discovering all the green technology used by Hotel
Verde at the recent waste themed meeting (26 February).
Upcoming Events and Projects
13 - 15 APRIL
15 MAY
RESPONSIBLE TOURISM CONFERENCE
SMART COOKING TRAINING
Cape Town will host the 11th RTD at the Cape Town
International Convention Centre, starting with an
academic day. RTD 11 is an opportunity to reflect
on what has been achieved, to document good
practices applied and set the agenda for change
for the next 10 years.
The City of Cape Town Environmental Resource
Management Department will be hosting a halfday training intervention in Smart Cooking for
feeding programmes and City registered caterers.
Should you have any
delegates to nominate, please
contact:
fahmieda@gmail.com
5 JUNE
20 - 23 OCTOBER
BSG EE CENTRE LAUNCH
NATIONAL WETLANDS INDABA
The City of Cape Town
Environmental Resource
Management Department
will launch its recently
refurbished Biodiversity
Showcase Garden
Environmental Education
Centre, based adjacent to
the Green Point Urban Park.
The 20th annual National Wetlands Indaba will be
hosted in the Western Cape, at Goudini Spa. The
theme Wetlands for our Future, will highlight the role
that wetlands play in sustainable development and
management of urban and rural
landscapes and livelihoods.
For more information:
http://indaba2015.wetlands.za.net
Check These Out
Chameleon Books introduce
their first 3-in-1 books
Each book contains a story,
fact section and activities.
The aim of the 3-in-1 books is
for children to read the story,
learn about the creatures
and plants, and have fun
doing the topic-related activities.
The books are sold via Amazon on a ‘print on
demand’ basis, which works out to be
expensive for South Africans. Chameleon
Books is seeking funding to print large volumes
locally, bringing the unit cost down to be
affordable or free to schools.
For details and inside pages:
www.chameleonbooks.co.za
Or email: judymare@xsinet.co.za
For plastics related information, resources, training and more
www.plasticsinfo.co.za
PSP’s new Grade 4 project book
is part of an Intermediate Phase
Indigenous Knowledge and
Science series.
Learning about traditional
weaving exposes learners to
how people used plants to
make things. It contains
practical activities on how
people used these beautiful
items during special occasions.
Order directly or online:
www.psp.org.za
Member Profile: Ecology-Made-Easy and
Aardvark Publications
E
nvironmental edu-tainment
resources for teachers from
Ecology-Made-Easy
and
Aardvark Publications
Ecology-Made-Easy specializes in
environmental edu -tainment
resources for primary phase learners
and teachers. They have a number
of different resources that are
perfectly suited to the Primary
School curriculum. All are available
as E-Copies (provided on a disc or
sent by email), so acquiring them
could not be easier!
See the attached PDF for more
information on
the resources
available for Natural Science
teachers from Ecology-Made-Easy
and Aardvark Publications.
For more information, contact:
Lynn Hurry lynn@ecology.co.za
The Ecology-Made-Easy website
provides information on EE
resources published by Aardvark
Publications, but it was also set up
to provide access to resources from
other agencies, such as Learning for
Sustainable Living - a BirdLife South
Africa resource for primary phase
teachers.
Lynn and Derryn Hurry will soon be
relocating to Cape Town and we
look forward to welcoming them to
the group at one of the next
meetings.
The Lighter Side
Can you sort the waste?
To landfill?
Compost?
Recycle it?
Our Next Meeting: 12 November 2015
Inspiration for Educators
Biodiversity Showcase Garden EE Centre
Activities are welcome
Answers:
1. Banana peel - compost it!
2. Pizza box - to landfill! (due to contamination from the food)
3. Jungle energy bar - recycle it! (if you look closely at the
packaging, it is branded as recyclable)
4. Aluminium cooking tray - recycle it!
5 May 2016
Responsible Tourism and Smart Living
Two Oceans Aquarium
EE Friends is an informal network of individuals and organisations involved in Environmental Education in and around Cape Town;
without a constitution, office-bearers or membership fees. For more information please visit www.capetown.gov.za/EEFriends.
If you would like to know more or become a member of EE Friends, please contact:
Mrs Skye McCool
Tel: +27 (0)21 487 2318
E-mail: ee.friends@capetown.gov.za