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Case Study

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EcoLearning

For education that sets an example

English Translation German Translation

YEA Green Pledge

Who are the Young Essex Assembly?

The Young Essex Assembly (or YEA) is a group of young people from Essex who are between the ages of 13 and 19. These people were voted into the Assembly by young people from all over Essex. The YEA is split into different subgroups that are formed to think about and deal with different things. The Green Pledge was created by the environmental subgroup of which one of our team is a member. Jack, one of the EcoLearning Team, is also a member of the YEA and actively seeks to promote Greener Schools.

[Image]
Green Pledge Logo Used with Permission, Copyright Young Essex Assembly 2008

What is the Green Pledge?

The Green Pledge is an awards scheme for secondary schools and youth centres throughout Essex. Each school or youth centre has to fulfil the following ten criteria:

1. Set up an Environment committee or appoint Eco-Champion(s).
   The committee / champions would become part of a county wide scheme with a meeting / training once or twice a year.
2. Recycle paper / plastics / cans/ food waste
3. Wherever possible re-use items such as waste paper, refilling ink cartridges etc.
4. Make use of natural daylight rather than always using lights.
5. Use of energy saving light bulbs wherever possible.
6. Use central heating, air conditioners only when necessary.
7. Turn off electrical equipment overnight, do not leave on stand by.
8. Offer parents etc the option of receiving communications via email rather than letter.
9. Provide encouragement for people to walk / cycle and provide safe storage for bikes.
10. Make use of alternative energy sources.

The subgroup, being quite small, is not able to judge how well the school or youth centre is doing in collaboration with the criteria, but a task group within the organisation, for example a School Council, judges the establishment. However, the school or youth group must appoint an 'eco champion' who will be in communication with the Green Pledge management (the environmental subgroup) and so will be the contact point between the two organisations. The task group will assess the eco-level of the school or youth centre and then the subgroup will handout giant green star stickers that can be stuck up around the school! The Green Pledge was launched on the 7^th February 2008 at County Hall, Chelmsford, and is now available for schools and youth groups to get involved with.

Why?

When voting for the YEA occurred, the environment was a key issue raised by the voters which was why the environment subgroup was set up.

How did it Develop?

The group met and discussed possible ideas until they decided what it was they wanted to tackle. These were recycling bins and how to make Essex schools greener. Consequently, the idea of the Green Pledge was born in around January - February in 2007. The subgroup then concentrated on the idea of recycling bins until they had a meeting with representatives from Essex County Council (ECC) and explained what they wanted to do. ECC told the subgroup what they did to help eco-friendliness e.g. the roof of County Hall is covered with solar panels, and CRed was set up by them which has lots of projects which can be implemented in primary schools. However ECC didn't really have anything aimed at secondary schools and so were very supportive of the project. In around August - September the original pledge was written and distributed around local schools so as to incur whether the schools thought there should be any amendments made to it. The pledge was then accepted by the rest of the YEA and by ECC.