THE No Planet B club, a group of third to sixth class boys and girls who are interested in learning about our planet, is now well under way and has met for the last three Wednesdays from 3pm to 4pm in McAuley Place.
The club is a fun place focused on helping members build their awareness, life skills, resilience and to take positive action. In the first week the boys and girls learnt all about climate change, what are its causes and what we all can do to help the planet. In the second week they explored the four elements and discovered the issue of biodiversity. Did you know we share our planet with over a million species of insects?
The club received an update from one of its members about five of the endangered species here in Kildare: the curlew, the Irish Hare, Marsh Fritillary, common lizard (Ireland’s only native reptile) and the Sundew. The children explored the idea of County Kildare adopting one of these four and focusing on its efforts to help. All children took a vote on their preferences and the next step is to start lobbying our politicians to win their commitment to taking action. Which option would you vote for?
As part of the club’s fun activities, the kids made composting pots from toilet rolls and planted onion sets to grow as food!
This week the kids took a closer look at their carbon footprint and simple ways to reduce it: walking to school, turning off electrical devices when not needed, eating more local and seasonal food. The children had a little carbon footprint competition and there were some surprising winners. What are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint?
They then built a food pyramid from food baskets and learnt about the recommended daily portions for each category. Did you know there are six categories, can you name them?
The highlight was the game at the end of the session, a game of guessing the country of origin for all food items. There were plenty of surprises and a few shocks about just how far some food travels before it gets to our tables.
Would you like to get involved? For information on the club or if you are interested in becoming a club leader, please call Niamh on 086 3848196.
