Medina Valley Centre
- Posted on 7th January, 08
- in Sustainability
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We went on a mission recently to see what was already happening on the Isle of Wight with regards to educating young people about the environment around them. In many ways the subject of sustainability is definitely a challenge of education as if the young people of today do not appreciate and understand the environment around them then it’s unlikely they will care for it.
One project along these lines has been the ‘Eco Challenger’. This project is a bus which was put together and run by the Medina Valley Centre, which goes out to schools and to events and fetes on the island. Its objective was to show young people an assortment of things through using solar power, wind generators and a special microscope linked to a monitor. They had all sorts of sea shore creatures and specimens from the cliffs and sand in a water tank which the public had collected.
We talked to the team which ran the bus, and it was clear that both young and old had found the service the bus provided really interesting, and the bus was crowded – struggling to fit all the items in under the microscope! Having electricity generated by the sun, they also found themselves making cups of tea and coffee using their electric kettle, and charging people’s mobile phones!
We got a good feeling that their independence as a unit certainly turned a few heads. The bus came through an education based funding stream which has now dried up – we hope very much that a new stream opens up for funding such a fantastic project. It’s great to see what people are actually doing!
Ellen
Two updates in one day (your not feeling giddy are you ;))
Sounds fantastic , but as you pointed out (and I found out when working in education) , the money sadly does not always flow into the best projects. External education modules like these sadly are normally the first things cut in any budgets . Yet as rightly pointed out their so important for getting the message outside , and reinforcing ideals learnt in school (of which the little darlings will forget as soon as their past the gate ) can be carried on. Awareness and eduction are the key .
Unless of course you decide to become the benlovent dictator of the Isle of wight