Clontuskert has saved 2,203 kgs of carbon by installing solar panels on our school. We help the environment further through our Climate Action Project.
Clontuskert is a Solar School. We are a small rural primary school in the heart of Co. Galway, in the west of Ireland. There are 21 students in our classroom from 4th to 6th class and we are all between 9 and 12 years old.
Our latest project has been installing solar panels in our school in partnership with Microsoft Ireland, SSE Airtricity and Active8. Since the panels have been installed they have generated 42% of our electricity in the school.
We check the school app each morning to see the real-time data on energy generated by the solar panels. This helps us with our sustainability goals and reduce the carbon footprint of Clontuskert School.
When we found an issue with Ireland’s Waste Management Systems we taught Minister Richard Bruton, Minister for Climate Action and Environment about the problem with the Green Dot which is often confused with the Mobius Loop, which is the recycling symbol.
Following our meeting, Minister Bruton changed the waste symbols in Ireland to make them easier to understand.
These symbols can be seen on MyWaste.ie.
We were delighted with this progress. Last September the government changed the recycling process in Ireland and now soft plastic can be recycled. We spoke to Ciaran Cannon TD about this. Currently recycling plants in Ireland are not equipped to handle this waste and the soft plastic is being exported for recycling.
We are connecting with schools across Europe as part of the international Climate Action Project to join our movement. We want to empower other students to highlight the issue in their own country and affect change. We have made a website called so you think you can recycle.com.
On this website we are hosting a call to action for all European schools to see if they can action change around symbols and the Green dot in their own country.
We have collaborated with schools in Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Ukraine, Poland, Romania, Macedonia, Greece, India, the US and Canada, and we focused on the problems, solutions and how to take action. This sharing has helped us to communicate our message, learn from our peers across the world and take collective action together.
Since we started the Solar Schools Programme we have received letters from President Michael D. Higgins, Minister for Climate Action Eamon Ryan and the Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science commending the school on our work in the area of Climate Action. Our project has been highlighted in the Seanad by Senator Aisling Dolan.
Clontuskert Solar Schools Project has been written about in the Connacht Tribune and the Sunday Times.
One of our students was chosen for the National Youth Assembly on Climate Change. The Assembly was live on RTE News Now on the 15th of November. 157 students were selected for this event. She was then chosen out of the 157 delegates to do the opening speech on Environment.
Clontuskert became the first Irish school to be awarded Climate Action Project School of Excellence this year. Only 245 schools globally were recognised because of their intense work on climate education in a whole-school approach. The recognition was awarded by Cartoon Network Climate Champions and the international Climate Action Project.
Clontuskert submitted their project work for the past year and met extensive criteria, including a school-wide commitment to climate education and student solutions.
We were interviewed by Maolra MacDonnchadha for Nuacht TG4 and held an outdoor celebration at the school.
We are currently campaigning to remove plastic packaging from the fruit and vegetable aisles in shops and supermarkets across the country. France banned fruit and veg packaging from January 2022 and we want to do the same in Ireland.
We are calling on the Irish government and all of our supermarkets and shops to Ban plastic on fruit and veg!