Environmental Ambassadors “green” their school and community

Students from Wahroonga Adventist School took part in National Tree Day on Monday, July 28.

Leisly White, head of Science and Environmental Ambassador coordinator at the school, said it was a real team building thing for the Ambassador team.

“The environmental Ambassador program is designed to put into practice what we preach,” she said. “We teach the students about sustainability. Conservation about our endemic species here in Australia and it’s a really great way for them to put it into practice and get their hands dirty and get involved. All these students care about the environment and they want to do their part to make a difference.”

Each high school class headed into the nature reserve behind the school throughout the day to plant native trees and undergrowth in designated planting areas, set up by the bushland management team.

“We’ve planted about 350 plants today, 50 of which have been trees,” said Jayden Streatfeild, environmental officer for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific. “We’re planting in the Blue Gum High Forest, which is a critically endangered ecological community—it only occurs here in Sydney—to help close in the edge and protect the rest of the [ecosystem]. Every plant we’ve planted has been sourced on site. They’re all native.”

Most of the trees the students planted were understorey foliage—blueberry ash, cheese tree, native olive and more.

“I definitely enjoy it because we actually go and get into the forest and nature. We get to plant things so it just makes everything feel a bit more like you have a bit more freedom,” said WAH student Elijah White.

“If we didn’t [take part in the program now], then maybe later in life we wouldn’t really care much about nature, and then everything would just get worse.”

 Mr Streatfeild is also glad to see the students participate. “It would be much easier for us to come here and plant the trees but it’s really important to me that the students come and experience the environment that is around their school, and learn a little bit about the bush and the plants they’re planting.”

“You can’t protect what you’ve never experienced—that’s my favourite quote from David Attenborough,” he said. “It’s really important that young people get into the bush, they experience the environment and they experience the trees and the different plants.”

Community members also planted some trees as part of the National Tree Day activities.

 “Everyone enjoys that nature strip, don’t they?” said Mrs White. “So that’s important too, to help the neighbours and the local community.